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LIBRARY 

OF  THE 

University  of  California. 

Received  jyOXr.         ^  JgoQ  . 

Accession  No.  ^  /^  vT^^  y.    Class  No. 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

in  2008  with  funding  from 

IVIicrosoft  Corporation 


http://www.archive.org/details/fiftyfamousstoriOObaldrich 


ECLECTIC  SCHOOL   READINGS 


FIFTY 


Famous  Stories  Retold 


BY 


JAMES    BALDWIN 


o>0<o 


NEW  YORK:. CINCINNATI-:. CHICAGO 
AMERICAN   BOOK   COMPANY 


^  KoSJ 

Copyright,  1896,  by 
AMERICAN   BOOK   COMPANY. 


FIFTY    FAMOUS   STORIES. 
W.  P.    7 


CONTENTS. 


King  Alfred  and  the  Cakes  . 
King  Alfred  and  the  Beggar  . 
King  Canute  on  the  Seashore 
The  Sons  of  William  the  Con 

queror 

The  White  Ship      .     .     . 
King  John  and  the  Abbot 
A  Story  of  Robin  Hood    , 
Bruce  and  the  Spider  . 
The  Black  Douglas      .     . 
Three  Men  of  Gotham 
Other  Wise  Men  of  Gotham 
The  Miller  of  the  Dee 
Sir  Philip  Sidney     .     .     . 
The  Ungrateful  Soldier     . 
Sir  Humphrey  Gilbert .     . 
Sir  Walter  Raleigh  .     .     . 

Pocahontas    

George    Washington     and 

Hatchet  .... 
Grace  Darling  .  .  .  .  - 
The  Story  of  William  Tell 
Arnold  Winkelried  .  . 
The  Bell  of  Atri  .  .  . 
How  Napoleon  crossed  the  Alps 
The  Story  of  Cincinnatus  .     .     . 


his 


PAGE 

5 


12 

17 
21 

28 

33 
35 
39 
42 
46 
49 
51 
53 
54 
58 

59 
61 

64 
66 
69 

75 
76 


The  Story  of  Regulus  . 
Cornelia's  Jewels     .     . 
Androclus  and  the  Lion 
Horatius  at  the  Bridge 
Julius  Caesar  .... 
The  Sword  of  Damocles 
Damon  and  Pythias 
A  Laconic  Answer 
The  Ungrateful  Guest  . 
Alexander  and  Bucephalus 
Diogenes  the  Wise  Man 
The  Brave  Three  Hundred 
Socrates  and  his  House 
The  King  and  his  Hawk 
Doctor  Goldsmith   . 
The  Kingdoms   .     .     . 
The  Barmecide  Feast  . 
The  Endless  Tale    .     . 
The  BHnd  Men  and  the  Elephan 
Maximilian  and  the  Goose  Boy 
The  Inchcape  Rock 
Whittington  and  his  Cat 
Casablanca    .... 
Antonio  Canova       .     . 
Picciola     .     .     .     .     . 
Mignon     ....*. 


PAGE 

82 

85 
87 

91 

95 

96 
100 
102 
103 
106 

108  ^ 
no 
112 

113 
118 
119 

123' 

132 

^37 
140 

^53 
156 
162 
167 


CONCERNING  THESE  STORIES. 


There  are  numerous  time-honored  stories  which  have  become  so 
incorporated  into  the  literature  and  thought  of  our  race  that  a  knowl- 
edge of  them  is  an  indispensable  part  of  one's  education.  These 
stories  are  of  several  different  classes.  To  one  class  belong  the  popu- 
lar fairy  tales  which  have  delighted  untold  generations  of  children, 
and  will  continue  to  delight  them  to  the  end  of  time.  To  another 
class  belong  the  limited  number  of  fables  that  have  come  down  to  us 
through  many  channels  from  hoar  antiquity.  To  a  third  belong  the 
charming  stories  of  olden  times  that  are  derived  from  the  literatures  of 
ancient  peoples,  such  as  the  Greeks  and  the  Hebrews.  A  fourth  class 
includes  the  half-legendary  tales  of  a  distinctly  later  origin,  which  have 
for  their  subjects  certain  romantic  episodes  in  the  lives  of  well-known 
heroes  and  famous  men,  or  in  the  history  of  a  people. 

It  is  to  this  last  class  that  most  of  the  fifty  stories  contained  in  the 
present  volume  belong.  As  a  matter  of  course,  some  of  these  stories 
are  better  known,  and  therefore  mor t  fa7no7is,  than  others.  Some  have 
a  slight  historical  value ;  some  are  useful  as  giving  point  to  certain 
great  moral  truths ;  others  are  products  solely  of  the  fancy,  and  are 
intended  only  to  amuse.  Some  are  derived  from  very  ancient  sources, 
and  are  current  in  the  literature  of  many  lands ;  some  have  come  to  us 
through  the  ballads  and  folk  tales  of  the  English  people ;  a  few  are 
of  quite  recent  origin ;  nearly  all  are  the  subjects  of  frequent  allusions 
in  poetry  and  prose  and  in  the  conversation  of  educated  people.  Care 
has  been  taken  to  exclude  everything  that  is  not  strictly  within  the 
limits  of  probability ;  hence  there  is  here  no  trespassing  upon  the 
domain  of  the  fairy  tale,  the  fable,  or  the  myth. 

That  children  naturally  take  a  deep  interest  in  such  stories,  no  per- 
son can  deny ;  that  the  reading  of  them  will  not  only  give  pleasure,  but 
will  help  to  lay  the  foundation  for  broader  literary  studies,  can  scarcely 
be  doubted.  It  is  believed,  therefore,  that  the  present  collection  will 
be  found  to  possess  an  educative  value  which  will  commend  it  as  a 
supplementary  reader  in  the  middle  primary  grades  at  school.  It  is  also 
hoped  that  the  book  will  prove  so  attractive  that  it  will  be  in  demand 
out  of  school  as  well  as  in. 

Acknowledgments  are  due  to  Mrs.  Charles  A.  Lane,  by  whom  eight 
or  ten  of  the  stories  were  suggested. 


'*\B  R  A  R  y 


uiT   raK 


•UNrV-EBSlTY 


^P 


CALIFQ 


FIFTY   FAMOUS   STORIES   RETOLD. 


0:^0 


KING  ALFRED  AND  THE  CAKES. 


Many  years  ago  there  lived  in  Eng-land  a  wise 
and  good  king  whose  name  was  Al-fred.  No  other 
man  ever  did  so  much  for  his  country  as  he  ;  and 


people  now,  all  over  the  world,  speak  of  him  as 
Alfred   the   Great. 

In  those  days  a  king  did  not  have  a  very  easy 
life.  There  was  war  almost  all  the  time,  and  no 
one  else  could  lead  his  army  into  battle  so  well  as 
he.  And  so,  between  ruling  and  fighting,  he  had  a 
busy  time  of  it  indeed. 

A  fierce,  rude  people,  called  the  Danes,  had  come 
from  over  the  sea,  and  were  fighting  the  Eng-lish. 
There  were  so  many  of  them,  and  they  were  so 
bold  and  strong,  that  for  a  long  time  they  gained 
every  battle.  If  they  kept  on,  they  would  soon  be 
the  masters  of  the  whole  country. 

At  last,  after  a  great  battle,  the  English  army 
was  broken  up  and  scat-tered.  Every  man  had  to 
save  himself  in  the  best  way  he  could.  King  Al- 
fred fled  alone,  in  great  haste,  through  the  woods 
and  swamps. 

Late  in  the  day  the  king  came  to  the  hut  of  a 
wood-cut-ter.  He  was  very  tired  and  "hungry,  and 
he  begged  the  wood-cut-ter's  wife  to  give  him  some- 
thing to  eat  and  a  place  to  sleep  in  her  hut. 

The  wom-an  was  baking  some  cakes  upon  the 
hearth,  and  she  looked  with  pity  upon  the  poor, 
ragged  fellow  who  seemed  so  hungry.  She  had 
no  thought  that  he  was  the  king. 

"  Yes,"  she  said,  "  I  will  give  you  some  supper  if 


you  will  watch  these  cakes.  I  want  to  go  out  and 
milk  the  cow;  and  you  must  see  that  they  do  not 
burn  while  I  am  gone." 

King  Alfred  was  very  willing  to  watch  the  cakes, 
but  he  had  far  greater  things  to  think  about.  How 
was  he  going  to  get  his  army  to-geth-er  again  .^^ 
And  how  was  he  going  to  drive  the  fierce  Danes 
out  of  the  land?  He  forgot  his  hunger;  he  forgot 
the  cakes ;  he  forgot  that  he  was  in  the  woodcut- 
ter's hut.  His  mind  was  busy  making  plans  for 
to-mor-row. 

In  a  little  while  the  wom-an  came  back.  The 
cakes  v/ere  smoking  on  the  hearth.  They  were 
burned  to  a  crisp.     Ah,  how  angry  she  was  ! 

"  You  lazy  fellow  !  "  she  cried.  "  See  what  you 
have  done !  You  want  some-thing  to  eat,  but  you 
do  not  want  to  work !  " 

I  have  been  told  that  she  even  struck  the  king 
with  a  stick ;  but  I  can  hardly  be-lieve  that  she  was 
sp  ill-na-tured. 

I  The  king  must  have  laughed  to  himself  at  the 
thought  of  being  scolded  in  this  way  J  and  he 
was  so  hungry  that  he  did  not  mind  the  woman's 
angry  words  half  so  much  as  the  loss  of  the 
cakes. 

I  do  not  know  whether  he  had  any-thing  to  eat 
that  night,  or  whether  he  had  to  go  to  bed  without 


his  supper.  But  it  was  not  many  days  until  he 
had  gath-ered  his  men  to-geth-er  again,  and  had 
beaten  the  Danes  in  a  great  battle. 


KING  ALFRED  AND  THE  BEGGAR„ 

At  one  time  the  Danes  drove  King  Alfred  from 
his  kingdom,  and  he  liad  to  lie  hidden  for  a  long 
time  on  a  little  is-land  in  a  river. 

One  day,  all  who  were  on  the  is-land,  except  the 
king  and  queen  and  one  servant,  went  out  to  fish. 
It  Was  a  very  lonely  place,  and  no  one  could  eet  to 
it  except  by  a  boat.  About  noon  a  ragged  beggar 
came  to  the  king's  door,  and  asked  for  food. 

The  king  called  the  servant,  and  asked,  "  How 
much  food  have  we  in  the  house  ?  " 

"  My  lord,"  said  the  servant,  "  we  have  only  one 
loaf  and  a  little  wine." 

Then  the  king  gave  thanks  to  God,  and  said, 
"  Give  half  of  the  loaf  and  half  of  the  wine  to  this 
poor  man." 

The  servant  did  as  he  was  bidden.  The  beggar 
thanked  the  king  for  his  kindness,  and  went  on  his 
way. 

In  the  after-noon  the  men  who  had  gone  out  to 
fish  came  back.     They  had  three  boats  full  of  fish, 


# 


and  they  said,  *'  We  have  caught  more  fish  to-day 
than  in  all  the  other  days  that  we  have  been  on 
this  island." 

The  king  was  glad,  and  he  and  his  people  were 
more  hopeful  than  they  had  ever  been  before. 

When  night  came,  the  king  lay  awake  for  a  long 
time,  and  thought  about  the  things  that  had  hap- 
pened that  day.  At  last  he  fancied  that  he  saw 
a  great  light  like  the  sun ;  and  in  the  midst  of  the 
light  there  stood  an  old  man  with  black  hair,  hold- 
ing an  open  book  in  his  hand. 

It  may  all  have  been  a  dream,  and  yet  to  the  king 
it  seemed  very  real  indeed.  He  looked  and  won- 
dered, but  was  not  afraid. 

"  Who  are  you  }  "  he  asked  of  the  old  man. 

"  Alfred,  my  son,  be  brave,"  said  the  man ;  "  for  I 
am  the  one  to  whom  you  gave  this  day  the  half  of 
all  the  food  that  you  had.  Be  strong  and  joyful 
of  heart,  and  listen  to  what  I  say.  Rise  up  early 
in  the  morning  and  blow  your  horn  three  times, 
so  loudly  that  the  Danes  may  hear  it.  By  nine 
o'clock,  five  hundred  men  will  be  around  you  ready 
to  be  led  into  battle.  Go  forth  bravely,  and  within 
seven  days  your  en-e-mies  shall  be  beaten,  and  you 
shall  go  back  to  your  kingdom  to  reign  in  peace." 
i^Then  the  light  went  out,  and  the  man  was  seen 
no  more. 


lO 

Irx  the  morning  the  king  arose  early,  and  crossed 
over  to  the  mainland.  Then  he  blew  his  horn 
three  times  very  loudly;  and  when  his  friends 
heard  it  they  were  glad,  but  the  Danes  were  filled 
with  fear. 

At  nine  o'clock,  five  hundred  of  his  bravest  sol- 
diers stood  around  him  ready  for  battle.  He  spoke, 
and  told  them  what  he  had  seen  and  heard  in  his 
dream ;  and  when  he  had  fin-ished,  they  all  cheered 
loudly,  and  said  that  they  would  follow  him  and  fight 
for  him  so  long  as  they  had  strength. 

So  they  went  out  bravely  to  battle ;  and  they 
beat  the  Danes,  and  drove  them  back  into  their 
own  place.  And  King  Alfred  ruled  wisely  and  well 
over  all  his  people  for  the  rest  of  his  days. 


KING  CANUTE   ON  THE   SEASHORE. 

A  HUNDRED  years  or  more  after  the  time  of 
Alfred  the  Great  there  was  a  king  of  England 
named  Ca-nute^  King  Canute  was  a  Dane ;  but 
the  Danes  were  not  so  fierce  and  cruel  then  as 
they  had  been  when  they  were  at  war  with  King 
Alfred. 

The  great  men  and  of-fi-cers  who  were  around 
King  Canute  were  always  praising  him. 


II 


"You  are  the  greatest  man  that  ever  lived,"  one 
would  say. 

Then  an-oth-er  would  say,  "  O  king !  there'  can 
never  be  an-oth-er  man  so  mighty  as  you." 

And  another  would  say,  "  Great  Canute,  there  is 
nothing  in  the  world  that  dares  to  dis-o-bey  you." 

The  king  was  a  man  of  sense,  and  he  grew  very 
tired  of  hearing  such  foolish  speeches. 

One  day  he  was  by  the  sea-shore,  and  his  of-fi- 
cers  were  with  him.  They  were  praising  him,  as 
they  were  in  the  habit  of  doing.  He  thought  that 
now  he  would  teach  them  a  lesson,  and  so  he  bade 
them  set  his  chair  on  the  beach  close  by  the  edge 
of  the  water. 

"  Am  I  the  greatest  man  in  the  world  ? "  he 
asked. 

*' O  king!"  they  cried,  "there  is  no  one  so 
mighty  as  you." 

"  Do  all  things  obey  me  ?  "  he  asked. 

"  There  is  nothing  that  dares  to  dis-o-bey  you,  O 
king !  "  they  said.  ''  The  world  bows  before  you, 
and  gives  you  honor." 

"Will  the  sea  obey  me.^^"  he  asked;  and  he 
looked  down  at  the  little  waves  which  were  lapping 
the  sand  at  his  feet. 

The  foolish  officers  were  puzzled,  but  they  did 
not  dare  to  say  "  No." 


12 


''  Command  it,  O  king !  and  it  will  obey,"  said 
one. 

''  Sea,"  cried  Canute,  "  I  command  you  to  come 
no  farther !  Waves,  stop  your  rolling,  and  do  not 
dare  to  touch  my  feet !  " 

But  the  tide  came  in,  just  as  it  always  did.  The 
water  rosei  higher  and  higher.  It  came  up  around 
the  king's  chair,  and  wet  not  only  his  feet,  but  also 
his  robe.  His  officers  stood  about  him,  alarmed, 
and  won-der-ing  whether  he  was  not  mad. 

Then  Canute  took  off  his  crown,  and  threw  it 
down  upon  the  sand. 

"  I  shall  never  wear  it  again,"  he  said.  "  And  do 
you,  my  men,  learn  a  lesson  from  what  you  have 
seen.  There  is  only  one  King  who  is  all-powerful ; 
and  it  is  he  who  rules  the  sea,  and  holds  the  ocean 
in  the  hollow  of  his  hand.  It  is  he  whom_you 
ought  to  praise  and  serve  above  all  others." 


THE  SONS  OF  WILLIAM  THE  CONQUEROR. 

There  was  once  a  great  king  of  England  who 
was  called  Wil-liam  the  Con-quer-or,  and  he  had 
three  sons. 

One  day  King  Wil-liam  seemed  to  be  thinking 
of  something  that  made  him  feel  vgry  sad ;  and  the 


•Sea.  1  command  you  to  come  no  farther t'* 


14 

wise  men  who  were  about  him  asked  him  what  was 
the  matter. 

"  I  am  thinking,"  he  said,  "  of  what  my  sons  may 
do  after  I  am  dead.  For,  unless  the)'  are  wise  and 
strong,  they  cannot  keep  the  kingdom  which  I  have 
won  for  them.  Indeed,  I  am  at  a  loss  to  know  which 
one  of  the  three  ought  to  be  the  king  when  I  am 
gonCc" 

"  O  king ! "  said  the  wise  men,  "  if  we  only 
knew  what  things  your  sons  admire  the  most, 
we  might  then  be  able  to  tell  what  kind  of  men 
they  will  be.  Perhaps,  by  asking  each  one  of 
them  a  few  ques-tions,  we  can  find  out  which 
one  of  them  will  be  best  fitted  to  rule  in  your 
place." 

^  "  The  plan  is  well  worth  trying,  at  least,"  said  the 
king.  "  Have  the  boys  come  before  you,  and  then 
ask  them  what  you  please." 

The  wise  men  talked  with  one  another  for  a  little 
while,  and  then  agreed  that  the  young  princes 
should  be  brought  in,  one  at  a  time,  and  that  the 
same  ques-tions  should  be  put  to  each. 

The  first  who  came  into  the  room  was  Robert. 
He  was  a  tall,  willful  lad,  and  was  nick-named  Short 
Stocking. 

"  Fair  sir,"  said  one  of  the  men,  "  answer  me  this 
question:  If,  instead  of  being  a  boy,  it  had  pleased 


IS 

God  that  you  should  be  a  bird,  what  kind  of  a  bird 
would  you  rather  be  ? '' 

"  A  hawk,"  answered  Robert.  "  I  would  rather 
be  a  hawk,  for  no  other  bird  reminds  one  so  much 
of  a  bold  and  gallant  knight." 

The  next  who  came  was  young  William,  his 
father's  name-sake  and  pet.  His  face  was  jolly  and 
round,  and  because  he  had  red  hair  he  was  nick- 
named Rufus,  or  the  Red. 

"Fair  sir,''  said  the  wise  man,  "answer  me  this 
question :  If,  instead  of  being  a  boy,  it  had  pleased 
God  that  you  should  be  a  bird,  what  kind  of  a  bird 
would  you  rather  be  ?  " 

''  An  eagle,"  answered  William.  "  I  would  rather 
be  an  eagle,  because  it  is  strong  and  brave.  It  is 
feared  by  all  other  birds,  and  is  there-fore  the  king 
of  them  all." 

Lastly  came  the  youngest  brother,  Henry,  with 
quiet  steps  and  a  sober,  thought-ful  look.  He  had 
been  taught  to  read  and  write,  and  for  that  reason 
he  was  nick-named  Beau-clerc,  or  the  Hand-some 
Schol-ar. 

"  Fair  sir,"  said  the  wise  man,  "  answer  me  this 
question :  If,  instead  of  being  a  boy,  it  had  pleased 
God  that  you  should  be  a  bird,  what  kind  of  a  bird 
would  you  rather  be  ?  " 

"  A  star-ling,"  said  Henry.     ''  I  would  rather  be  a 


i6 

star-ling,  because  it  is  good-mannered  and  kind  and 
a  joy  to  every  one  who  sees  it,  and  it  never  tries  to 
rob  or  abuse  its  neigh-bor." 

Then  the  wise  men  talked  with  one  another  for  a 
little  while,  and  when  they  had  agreed  among  them- 
selves, they  spoke  to  the  kingo 
>^^^«fc  find,"  said  they,  "that  your  eldest  son,  Rob- 
ert, will  be  bold  arid  gallant.  He  will  do  sorne  great 
deeds,  and  make  a  name  for  himself;  but  in  the  end 
he  will  be  over-come  by  his  foes,  and  will  die  in 
prison. 

"  The  second  son,  William,  will  be  as  brave  and 
strong  as  the  eagle;  but  he  will  be  feared  and  hated 
for  his  cruel  deeds.  I  He  will  lead  a  wicked  life,  and 
will  die  a  shamefiirdeath.      ■^^^f^^-"--*'^^ 

"  The  youngest  son,  Henry,  will  be  wise  and  pru- 
dent and  peaceful.  He  will  go  to  war  only  when  Ke 
is  forced  to  do  so  by  his  enemies,  fie  will  be  loved 
at  home,  and  re-spect-ed  abroad ;  and  he  will  die  in 
peace  after  having  gained  great  pos-ses-sions." 

Years  passed  by,  and  the  three  boys  had  grown 
up  to  be  men.  King  William  lay  upon  his  death- 
bed, and  again  he  thought  of  what  would  become 
of  his  sons  when  he  was  gone.  Then  he  re-mem- 
bered  what  ttie  wise  men  had  told  him ;  and  so  he 
de-clared  that  Robert  should  Have  the  lands  which 
he  held  in  France,  that  William  should  be  the  King 


of  England,  and  that  Henry  should  have  no  land  at 
aJl^ot  only  a  ......  of  gold.^  ^.nf^tO^C^f^ 

\  So  it  hap-pened  in  the  encTvery  much  as  the  wise 
men  had  fore-told.  Robert,  the  Short  Stocking,  was 
bold  and  reckless,  like  the  hawk  which  he  so  muclv 
admired.  He  lost  all  the  lands  that  his  father  had 
left  him,  and  was  at  last  shut  up  in  prison,  where  he 
was  kept  until  he  died. 

William  Rufus  was  so  over-bear-ing  and  cruel  that 
he  was  feared  and  hated  by  all  his  people.  He  led 
a  wicked  life,  and  was  killed  by  one  of  his  own  men 
while  hunting  in  the  forest. 

And  Henry,  the  Handsome  Scholar,  had  not  only 
the  chest  of  gold  for  his  own,  but  he  became  by  and 
by  the  King  of  England  and  the  ruler  of  all  the  lands 
that  his  father  had  had  in  France. 


THE   WHITE   SHIP. 

King  Henry,  the  Handsome  Scholar,  had  one 
son,  named  William,  whom  he  dearly  loved.  The 
young  man  was  noble  and  brave,  and  every-body 
hoped  that  he  would  some  day  be  the  King  of 
England. 

One  summer  Prince  William  went  with  his  father 
across  the  sea  to  look  after  their  lands  in  France. 

FIFTY    FAM.  STO.—  2 


i8 

They  were  wel-comed  with  joy  by  all  their  people 
there,  and  the  young  prince  was  so  gallant  and 
kind,  that  he  won  the  love  of  all  who  saw  him. 

But  at  last  the  time  came  for  them  to  go  back 
to  England.  The  king,  with  his  wise  men  and 
brave  knights,  set  sail  early  in  the  day ;  but  Prince 
William  with  his  younger  friends  waited  a  little 
while.  They  had  had  so  joyous  a  time  in  France 
that  they  were  in  no  great  haste  to  tear  them-selves 
away. 

Then  they  went  on  board  of  the  ship  which  was 
waiting  to  carry  them  home.  It  was  a  beau-ti-ful 
ship  with  white  sails  and  white  masts,  and  it  had 
been  fitted  up  on  purpose  for  this  voyage. 

The  sea  was  smooth,  the  winds  were  fair,  and  no 
one  thought  of  danger.  On  the  ship,  every-thing 
had  been  ar-ranged  to  make  the  trip  a  pleasant  one. 
There  was  music  and  dancings  and  everybody  was 
merry  and  glad. 

The  sun  had  gone  down  before  the  white-winged 
vessel  was  fairly  out  of  the  bay.  But  what  of  that.^ 
The  moon  was  at  its  full,  and  it  would  give  light 
enough ;  and  before  the  dawn  of  the  morrow,  the 
narrow  sea  would  be  crossed.  And  so  the  prince, 
and  the  young  people  who  were  with  him,  gave 
them'selves  up  to  mer-ri-ment  and  feasting  and  joy. 

The  ear-li-er  hours  of  the  night  passed  by;  and 


19 

then  there  was  a  cry  of  alarm  on  deck.  A  moment 
after-ward  there  was  a  great  crash.  The  ship  had 
struck  upon  a  rock.  The  water  rushed  in.  She 
was  sinking.  Ah,  where  now  were  those  who  had 
lately  been  so  heart-freehand  glad  ? 

Every  heart  was  full  of  fear.  No  one  knew  what 
to  do.  A  small  boat  was  quickly  launched,  and  the 
prince  with  a  few  of  his  bravest  friends  leaped  into 
it.  They  pushed  off  just  as  the  ship  was  be-gin-ning 
to  settle  beneath  the  waves.     Would  they  be  saved  ? 

They  had  rowedlhardly  ten  yards  from  the  ship, 
^'when  there  was  a  cry  from  among  those  that  were 
left  behind. 

"  Row  back !  "  cried  the  prince.  "  It  is  my  little 
sister.     She  must  be  saved  !  " 

The  men  did  not  dare  to  disobey.  The  boat  was 
again  brought  along-side  of  the  sinking  vessel. 
The  prince  stood  up,  and  held  out  his  arms  for  his 
sister.  At  that  moment  the  ship  gave  a  great 
lurch  forward  into  the  waves.  One  shriek  of  ter- 
ror was  heard,  and  then  all  was  still  save  the  sound 
of  the  moaning  waters. 

Ship  and  boat,  prince  and  prin-cess,  and  all  the 
gay  com-pa-ny  that  had  set  sail  from  France,  went 
down  to  the  bottom  together.  One  man  clung  to  a 
floating  plank,  and  was  saved  the  next  day.  He 
was  the  only  person  left  alive  to  tell  the  sad  story. 


20 

When  King  Henry  heard  of  the  death  of  his  son, 
his  grief  was  more  than  he  could  bear.  His  heart 
was  broken.  He  had  no  more  joy  in  life ;  and  men 
say  that  no  one  ever  saw  him  smile  again. 

Here  is  a  poem  about  him  that  your  teacher  may 
read  to  you,  and  perhaps,  after  a  while,  you  may 
learn  it  by  heart. 

HE  NEVER   SMILED   AGAIN. 

The  bark  that  held  the  prince  went  down, 

The  sweeping  waves  rolled  on ; 
And  what  was  England's  glorious  crown 

To  him  that  wept  a  son  ? 
He  lived,  for  Hfe  may  long  be  borne 

Ere  sorrow  breaks  its  chain : 
Why  comes  not  death  to  those  who  mourn? 

He  never  smiled  again. 

There  stood  proud  forms  before  his  throne, 

The  stately  and  the  brave ; 
But  who  could  fill  the  place  of  one,  — 

That  one  beneath  the  wave  ? 
Before  him  passed  the  young  and  fair, 

In  pleasure's  reckless  train ; 
But  seas  dashed  o'er  his  son's  bright  hair  — 

He  never  smiled  again. 

He  sat  where  festal  bowls  went  round ; 

He  heard  the  minstrel  sing ; 
He  saw  the  tour-ney's  victor  crowned 

Amid  the  knightly  ring. 


21 


A  murmur  of  the  restless  deep 

Was  blent  with  every  strain, 
A  voice  of  winds  that  would  not  sleep  — 

He  never  smiled  again. 

Hearts,  in  that  time,  closed  o'er  the  trace 

Of  vows  once  fondly  poured. 
And  strangers  took  the  kins-man's  place 

At  many  a  joyous  board; 
Graves  which  true  love  had  bathed  with  tears 

Were  left  to  heaven's  bright  rain ; 

Fresh  hopes  were  born  for  other  years  — 

He  never  smiled  again  ! 

Mrs.  Hemans. 


KING  JOHN   AND   THE   ABBOT, 

I.     THE   THREE    QUESTIONS. 

There  was  once  a  king  of  England  whose  name 
was  John.  He  was  a  bad  king;  for  he  was  harsh 
and  cruel  to  his  people,  and  so  long  as  he  could 
have  his  own  way,  he  did  not  care  what  became  of 
other  folks.  He  was  the  worst  king  that  England 
ever  had. 

Now,  there  was  in  the  town  of  Can'ter-bur-y  a  rich 
old  abbot  who  lived  in  grand  style  in  a  great  house 
called  the  Abbey.  Every  day  a  hundred  noble  men 
sat  down  with  him  to  dine;  and  fifty  brave  knights^ 


22 

in  fine  velvet  coats   and  gold  chains,  waited  upon 
him  at  his  table. 

When  King  John  heard  of  the  way  in  which  the 
abbot  lived,  he  made  up  his  mind  to  put  a  stop 
to  it.  So  he  sent  for  the  old  man  to  come  and 
see  him. 

"  How  now,  my  good  abbot  ? "  he  said.     "  I  hear 
that  you  keep  a  far  better  house  than  I.     How  dare 
you  do  such  a  thing  .^^     Don't   you  know  that   no 
man  in  the  land  ought  to  live  better  than  the  king?^ 
And  I  tell  you  that  no  man  shall." 

"  O  king !  "  said  the  abbot,  "  I  beg  to  say  that  I 
am  spending  nothing  but  what  is  my  own.  I  hope 
that  you  will  not  think  ill  of  me  for  making  things 
pleasant  for  my  friends  and  the  brave  knights  who 
are  with  me." 

"  Think  ill  of  you  ?  "  said  the  king.  "  How  can  I 
help  but  think  ill  of  you  ?  All  that  there  is  in  this 
broad  land  is  mine  by  right ;  and  how  do  you  dare 
to  put  me  to  shame  by  living  in  grander  style  than  I  ? 
One  would  think  that  you  were  trying  to  be  king  in 
my  place." 

"  Oh,  do  not  say  so  !  "  said  the  abbot.    "  For  I  "  — 

"  Not  another  word  !  "  cried  the  king.  "  Your  fault 
is  plain,  and  unless  you  can  answer  me  three  ques- 
tions, your  head  shall  be  cut  off,  and  all  your  riches 
shall  be  mine." 


23 

"  I  will  try  to  answer  them,  O  king ! "  said  the 
abbot. 

"  Well,  then,  jsaid  King  John,  "  as  I  sit  here  with 
my  crown  of  gold  on  my  head,  you  must  tell  me  to 
within  a  day  just  how  long  I  shall  live.  Sec-ond-ly, 
you  must  tell  ^me  how  soon  I  shall  ride  round  the 
whole  world ;  and  lastly,  you  shall  tell  me  what  I 
think." 

"  O  king !  "  said  the  abbot,  "  these  are  deep,  hard 
questions,  and  I  cannot  answer  them  just  now.  But 
if  you  will  give  me  two  weeks  to  think  about  them, 
I  will  do  the  best  that  I  can." 

"  Two  weeks  you  shall  have,"  said  the  king ;  "  but 
if  then  you  fail  to  answer  me,  you  shall  lose  your 
head,  and  all  your  lands  shall  be  mine." 

The  abbot  went  away  very  sad  and  in  great  fear. 
He  first  rode  to  Oxford.  Here  was  a  great  school, 
called  a  u-ni-ver'si-ty,  and  he  wanted  to  see  if  any  of 
the  wise  pro-fess-ors  could  help  him.  But  they  shook 
their  heads,  and  said  that  there  was  nothing  about 
King  John  in  any  of  their  books. 

Then  the  abbot  rode  down  to  Cam-bridge,  where 
there  was  another  u-ni-ver-si-ty.  But  not  one  of  the 
teachers  in  that  great  school  could  help  him. 

At  last,  sad  and  sor-row-ful,  he  rode  toward  home 
to  bid  his  friends  and  his  brave  knights  good-by. 
For  now  he  had  not  a  week  to  live. 


24 


II.     THE   THREE    ANSWERS. 


As  the  abbot  was  riding  up  the  lane  which  led  to 
his  grand  house,  he  met  his  shep-herd  going  to  the 
fields^^^ . 

"  Welcome  home,  good  master !  "  cried  the  shep- 
herd. "What  news  do  you  bring  us  from  great 
King  John  ? " 

"  Sad  news,  sad  news,"  said  the  abbot ;  and  then 
he  told  him  all  that  had  happened. 

"  Cheer  up,  cheer  up,  good  master,"  said  the  shep- 
herd. "  Have  you  never  yet  heard  that  a  fool  may 
teach  a  wise  man  wit  ?  I  think  I  can  help  you  out 
of  your  trouble." 

"  You  help  me  !  "  cried  the  abbot.    "  How.f^  how?  " 

"  Well,"  answered  the  shepherd,  "  you  know  that 
everybody  says  that  I  look  just  like  you,  and  that  I 
have  some-times  been  mis-tak-en  for  you.  So,  lend 
me  your  servants  and  your  horse  and  your  gown, 
and  I  will  go  up  to  London  and  see  the  king.  If 
nothing  else  can  be  done,  I  can  at  least  die  in  your 
place." 

"My  good  shepherd,"  said  the  abbot,  "you  are 
very,  very  kind;  and  I  have  a  mind  to  let  you  try 
your  plan.  But  if  the  worst  comes  to  the  worst, 
you  shall  not  die  for  me.     I  will  die  for  myself." 

So  the  shepherd  got  ready  to  go  at  once.     He 


25 

dressed  himself  with  great  care.  Over  his  shep- 
herd's coat  he  threw  the  abbot's  long  gown,  and  he 
bor-rowed  the  abbot's  cap  and  golden  staff.  When 
all  was  ready,  no  one  in  the  world  would  have 
thought  that  he  was  not  the  great  man  himself. 
Then  he  mounted  his  horse,  and  with  a  great  train 
of  servants  set  out  for  London. 

Of  course  the  king  did  not  know  him. 

"  Welcome,  Sir  Abbot !  "  he  said.  "  It  is  a  good 
thing  that  you  have  come  back.  But,  prompt  as 
you  are,  if  you  fail  to  answer  my  three  questions, 
you  shall  lose  your  head." 

"  I  am  ready  to  answer  them,  O  king ! "  said  the 
shepherd. 

"  Indeed,  indeed  !  "  said  the  king,  and  he  laughed 
to  himself.  "  Well,  then,  answer  my  first  question : 
How  long  shall  I  live  ?  Come,  you  must  tell  me  to 
the  very  day." 

"  You  shall  live,"  said  the  shepherd,  ''  until  the 
day  that  you  die,  and  not  one  day  longer.  And  you 
shall  die  when  you  take  your  last  breath,  and  not 
one  moment  before." 

The  king  laughed. 

"  You  are  witty,  I  see,"  he  said.  "  But  we  will 
let  that  pass,  and  say  that  your  answer  is  right. 
And  now  tell  me  how  soon  I  may  ride  round  the 
world." 


"  You  shall  live  until  the  day  that  you  die. 


27 

"  You  must  rise  with  the  sun,"  said  the  shepherd, 
"  and  you  must  ride  with  the  sun  until  it  rises  again 
the  next  morning.  As  soon  as  you  do  that,  you  will 
find  that  you  have  ridden  round  the  world  in  ;wenty- 
four  hours." 

The  king  laughed  again.  "  Indeed,"  he  said,  "  I 
did  not  think  that  it  could  be  done  so  soon.  You 
are  not  only  witty,  but  you  are  wise,  and  we  will  let 
this  answer  pass.  And  now  comes  my  third  and 
last  question :  What  do  I  think  ?  " 

"  That  is  an  easy  question,"  said  the  shepherd. 
"  You  think  that  I  am  the  Abbot  of  Can-ter-bur-y. 
But,  to  tell  you  the  truth,  I  am  only  his  poor  shep- 
herd, and  I  have  come  to  beg  your  pardon  for  him 
and  for  me."  And  with  that,  he  threw  off  his  long 
gown. 

The  king  laughed  loud  and  long. 

"A  merry  fellow  you  are,"  said  he,  "  and  you  shall 
be  the  Abbot  of  Canterbury  in  your  master  s  place." 

"  O  king !  that  cannot  be,"  said  the  shepherd ; 
"  for  I  can  neither  read  nor  write." 

"  Very  well,  then,"  said  the  king,  "  I  will  give 
you  something  else  to  pay  you  for  this  merry  joke. 
I  will  give  you  four  pieces  of  silver  every  week  as 
long  as  you  live.  And  when  you  get  home,  you 
may  tell  the  old  abbot  that  you  have  brought  him  a 
free  pardon  from  King  John." 


28 


A   STORY   OF   ROBIN    HOOD. 

In  the  rude  days  of  King  Rich-ard  and  King 
John  there  were  many  great  woods  in  England. 
The  most  famous  of  these  was  Sher-wood  forest, 
where  the  king  often  went  to  hunt  deer.  In  this 
forest  there  lived  a  band  of  daring  men  called  out- 
laws. 

They  had  done  something  that  was  against  the 
laws  of  the  land,  and  had  been  forced  to  hide  them- 
selves in  the  woods  to  save  their  lives.  There  they 
spent  their  time  in  roaming  about  among  the  trees, 
in  hunting  the  king's  deer,  and  in  robbing  rich 
trav-el-ers  that  came  that  way. 

There  were  nearly  a  hundred  of  these  outlaws, 
and  their  leader  was  a  bold  fellow  called  Robiii 
Hood.  They  were  dressed  in  suits  of  green,  and 
armed  with  bows  and  arrows ;  and  sometimes  they 
carried  long  wooden  lances  and  broad-swords,  which 
they  knew  how  to  handle  well.  When-ever  they 
had  taken  anything,  it  was  brought  and  laid  at  the 
feet  of  Robin  Hood,  whom  they  called  their  king. 
He  then  di-vid-ed  it  fairly  among  them,  giving  to 
each  man  his  just  share. 

Robin  never  allowed  his  men  to  harm  any-body 
but  the  rich  men  who  lived  in  great  houses  and  did 
no  work.     He  was   always  kind   to  the   poor,  and 


29 

he  often  sent  help  to  them ;  and  for  that  reason 
the  common  people  looked  upon  him  as  their 
friend. 

Long  after  he  was  dead,  men  liked  to  talk  about 
his  deeds.  Some  praised  him,  and  some  blamed 
him.  He  was,  indeed,  a  rude,  lawless  fellow;  but 
at  that  time,  people  did  not  think  of  right  and 
wrong  as  they  do  now. 

A  great  many  songs  were  made  up  about  Robin 
Hood,  and  these  songs  were  sung  in  the  cot-ta-ges 
and  huts  all  over  the  land  for  hundreds  of  years 
after-ward. 

Here  is  a  little  story  that  is  told  in  one  of  those 
songs :  — 

Robin  Hood  was  standing  one  day  under  a  green 
tree  by  the  road-side.  While  he  was  lis-ten-ing  to 
the  birds  among  the  leaves,  he  saw  a  young  man 
passing  by.  This  young  man  was  dressed  in  a  fine 
suit  of  bright  red  cloth ;  and,  as  he  tripped  gayly 
along  the  road,  he  seemed  to  be  as  happy  as  the 
day. 

"  I  will  not  trou-ble  him,"  said  Robin  Hood,  "for 
I  think  he  is  on  his  way  to  his  wedding." 

The  next  day  Robin  stood  in  the  same  place. 
He  had  not  been  there  long  when  he  saw  the 
same  young  man  coming  down  the  road.  But  he 
did  not  seem  to  be  so  happy  this  time.     He  had 


30 

reft  his  scarlet  coat  at  home,  and  at  every  step  he 
sighed  and  groaned. 

"  Ah  the  sad  day !  the  sad  day !  "  he  kept  saying 
to  himself. 

Then  Robin  Hood  stepped  out  from  under  the 
tree,  and  said,  - — 

"  I  say,  young  man !  Have  you  any  money  to 
spare  for  my  merry  men  and  me  ? " 

"  I  have  nothing  at  all,"  said  the  young  man,  "but 
five  shil-lings  and  a  ring." 

''  A  gold  ring  ?  '  asked  Robin. 

*'  Yes,"  said  the  young  man,  "  it  is  a  gold  ring. 
Here  it  is.'' 

"  Ah,  I  see ! "  said  Robin :  "  it  is  a  wedding 
ring." 

"  I  have  kept  it  these  seven  years,"  said  the 
young  man;  "I  have  kept  it  to  give  to  my  bride 
on  our  wedding  day.  We  were  going  to  be  mar- 
ried yes-ter-day.  But  her  father  has  prom-ised  her 
to  a  rich  old  man  whom  she  never  saw.  And  now 
my  heart  is  broken." 

"  What  is  your  name  ?  "  asked  Robin. 

"  My  name  is  Allin-a-Dale,"  said  the  young  man. 

"  What  will  you  give  me,  in  gold  or  fee,"  said 
Robin,  "  if  I  will  help  you  win  your  bride  again  in 
spite  of  the  rich  old  man  to  whom  she  has  been 
promised  ? " 


31 


c   ^;? 


»S,         -  -- — —    -- 

v^l?^?^^)'^^^^^  ^  '^^^^  ^^  money,  said 

f,M^'^^^''^>''\^  Allin,  "but  I  will  promise 

to  be  your  servant." 
"  How  many  miles  is  it  to  the  place  where  the 
maiden  lives  ?  "  asked  Robin. 


32 

"  It  IS  not  far,"  said  Allin.  "  But  she  is  to  be 
married  this  very  day,  and  the  church  is  five  miles 
away." 

Then  Robin  made  haste  to  dress  himself  as  a 
harper ;  and  in  the  after-noon  he  stood  in  the  door 
of  the  church. 

"  Who  are  you  ?"  said  the  bishop,  ''  and  what  are 
you  doing  here  ?''  # 

"  I  am  a  bold  harper,"  said  Robin,  "  the  best  in 
the  north  country." 

"  I  am  glad  you  have  come,"  said  the  bishop 
kindly.  "  There  is  no  music  that  I  like  so  well  as 
that  of  the  harp.     Come  in,  and  play  for  us." 

"  I  will  go  in,"  said  Robin  Hood;  "but  I  will  not 
give  you  any  music  until  I  see  the  bride  and  bride- 
groom." 

Just  then  an  old  man  came  in.  He  was  dressed 
in  rich  clothing,  but  was  bent  with  age,  and  was 
feeble  and  gray.  By  his  side  walked  a  fair  young 
girl.  Her  cheeks  were  very  pale,  and  her  eyes  were 
full  of  tears. 

"  This  is  no  match,"  said  Robin.  "  Let  the  bride 
choose  for  herself." 

Then  he  put  his  horn  to  his  lips,  and  blew  three 
times.  The  very  next  minute,  four  and  twenty 
men,  all  dressed  in  green,  and  car-ry-ing  long  bows 
in    their   hands,    came    running   across    the    fields. 


33 

And  as  they  marched  into  the  church,  all  in  a  row, 
the  fore-most  among  them  was  Allin-a-Dale. 

"  Now  whom  do  you  choose  ?  "  said  Robin  to  the 
maiden. 

"  I  choose  Allin-a-Dale,"  she  said,  blushing. 

"  And  Allin-a-Dale  you  shall  have,"  said  Robin; 
"  and  he  that  takes  you  from  Allin-a-Dale  shall  find 
that  he  has  Robin  Hood  to  deal  with." 

And  so  the  fair  maiden  and  Allin-a-Dale  were 
married  then  and  there,  and  the  rich  old  man  went 
home  in  a  great  rage. 

"  And  thus  having  ended  this  merry  wedding, 
The  bride  looked  like  a  queen  : 
And  so  they  re-turned  to  the  merry  green  wood, 
Amongst  the  leaves  so  green." 


BRUCE   AND   THE   SPIDER. 

There  was  once  a  king  of  Scot-land  whose  name 
was  Robert  Bruce.  He  had  need  to  be  both  brave 
and  wise,  for  the  times  in  which  he  lived  were  wild 
and  rude.  The  King  of  England  was  at  war  with 
him,  and  had  led  a  great  army  into  Scotland  to 
drive  him  out  of  the  land. 

Battle  after  battle  had  been  fought.  Six  times 
had  Bruce  led  his  brave  little  army  against  his  foes ; 

FIFTY   FAM.  STO.  —  3 


34 

and  SIX  times  had  his  men  been  beaten,  and  driven 
into  flight.  At  last  his  army  was  scat-tered,  and  he 
was  forced  to  hide  himself  in  the  woods  and  in 
lonely  places  among  the  moun-tains. 

One  rainy  day,  Bruce  lay  on  the  ground  under  a 
rude  shed,  lis-ten-ing  to  the  patter  of  the  drops  on 
the  roof  above  him.  He  was  tired  and  sick  at 
heart,  and  ready  to  give  up  all  hope.  It  seemed 
to  him  that  there  was  no  use  for  him  to  try  to  do 
anything  more. 

As  he  lay  thinking,  he  saw  a  spider  over  his 
head,  making  ready  to  weave  her  web.  He 
watched  her  as  she  toiled  slowly  and  with  great 
care.  Six  times  she  tried  to  throw  her  frail  thread 
from  one  beam  to  another,  and  six  times  it  fell 
short. 

"  Poor  thing !  "  said  Bruce :  "  you,  too,  know  what 
it  is  to  fail." 

But  the  spider  did  not  lose  hope  with  the  sixth 
failure.  With  still  more  care,  she  made  ready  to 
try  for  the  seventh  time.  Bruce  almost  forgot  his 
own  troubles  as  he  watched  her  swing  herself  out 
upon  the  slender  line.  Would  she  fail  again  ? 
No !  The  thread  was  carried  safely  to  the  beam, 
and  fas-tened  there. 

"  I,  too,  will  try  a  seventh  time !  "  cried  Bruce. 

He  arose  and  called  his  men  together.     He  told 


35 

them  of  his  plans,  and  sent  them  out  with  mes-sa- 
ges  of  cheer  to  his  dis-heart-ened  people.  Soon 
there  was  an  army  of  brave  Scotch-men  around 
him.  Another  battle  was  fought,  and  the  King  of 
England  was  glad  to  go  back  into  his  own  country. 
I  have  heard  it  said,  that,  after  that  day,  no  one 
by  the  name  of  Bruce  would  ever  hurt  a  spider. 
The  lesson  which  the  little  crea-ture  had  taught 
the  king  was  never  for-got-ten. 


THE   BLACK   DOUGLAS. 

In  Scotland,  in  the  time  of  King  Robert  Bruce, 
there  lived  a  brave  man  whose  name  was  Doug-las. 
His  hair  and  beard  were  black  and  long,  and  his 
face  was  tanned  and  dark;  and  for  this  reason 
people  nicknamed  him  the  Black  Douglas.  He 
was  a  good  friend  of  the  king,  and  one  of  his 
strongest  helpers. 

In  the.  war  with  the  English,  who  were  trvrng  to 
drive'  Bruce  from  Scotland,  the  Black  Douglas  did 
many  brave  deeds ;  and  the  English  people  became 
very  much  afraid  of  him.  By  and  by  the  fear  of 
him  spread  all  through  the  land.  Nothing  could 
frighten  an  English  lad  more  than  to  tell  him  that 
the    Black    Douglas  was    not  far   away.      Women 


36 

would  tell  their  chil-dren,  when  they  were  naughty, 
that  the  Black  Douglas  would  get  them ;  and  this 
would  make  them  very  quiet  and  good. 

There  was  a  large  cas-tle  in  Scotland  which  the 
English  had  taken  early  in  the  war.  The  Scot-tish 
soldiers  wanted  very  much  to  take  it  again,  and  the 
Black  Douglas  and  his  men  went  one  day  to  see 
what  they  could  do.  It  happened  to  be  a  hol-i-day, 
and  most  of  the  Ensjlish  soldiers  in  the  cas-tle  were 
eating  and  drinking  and  having  a  merry  time.  But 
they  had  left  watch-men  on  the  wall  to  see  that  the 
Scottish  soldiers  did  not  come  upon  them  un-a- 
wares ;  and  so  they  felt  quite  safe. 

In  the  e-ven-ing,  when  it  was  growing  dark,  the 
wife  of  one  of  the  soldiers  went  up  on  the  wall 
with  her  child  in  her  arms.  As  she  looked  over 
into  the  fields  below  the  castle,  she  saw  some  dark 
objects  moving  toward  the  foot  of  the  wall.  In  the 
dusk  she  could  not  make  out  what  they  were,  and  so 
she  pointed  them  out  to  one  of  the  watch-men. 

"Pooh,  pooh  !  "  said  the  watchman.  "  Those  are 
nothing  to  frighten  us.  They  are  the  farmer's  cat- 
tle, trying  to  find  their  way  home.  The  farmer 
himself  is  en-joy-ing  the  hol-i-day,  and  he  has  for- 
gotten to  bring  them  in.  If  the  Douglas  should 
happen  this  way  before  morning,  he  will  be  sorry 
for  his  care-less-ness." 


37 

But  the  dark  objects  were  not  cattle.  They  were 
the  Black  Douglas  and  his  men,  creeping  on  hands 
and  feet  toward  the  foot  of  the  castle  wall.  Some 
of  them  were  dragging  ladders  behind  them  through 
the  grass.  They  would  soon  be  climbing  to  the  top 
of  the  wall.  None  of  the  English  soldiers  dreamed 
that  they  were  within  many  miles  of  the  place. 

The  woman  watched  them  until  the  last  one  had 
passed  around  a  corner  out  of  sight.  She  was  not 
afraid,  for  in  the  dark-en-ing  twi-light  they  looked 
indeed  like  cattle.  After  a  little  while  she  began 
to  sing  to  her  child :  — 

"  Hush  ye,  hush  ye,  little  pet  ye, 
Hush  ye,  hush  ye,  do  not  fret  ye, 
The  Black  Douglas  shall  not  get  ye." 

All  at  once  a  gruff  voice  was  heard  behind  her, 
saying,  "  Don't  be  so  sure  about  that !  " 

She  looked  around,  and  there  stood  the  Black 
Douglas  himself.  At  the  same  moment  a  Scottish 
soldier  climbed  off  a  ladder  and  leaped  upon  the 
wall;  and  then  there  came  another  and  another 
and  another,  until  the  wall  was  covered  with  them. 
Soon  there  was  hot  fighting  in  every  part  of  the 
castle.  But  the  English  were  so  taken  by  sur- 
prise that  they  could  not  do  much.  Many  of  them 
were  killed,  and  in  a  little  while  the  Black  Douglas 


•  Don*t  be  so  sure  about  that!  " 


39 

and  his  men  were  the  masters  of  the  castle,  which 
by  right  be-longed  to  them. 

As  for  the  woman  and  her  child,  the  Black 
Douglas  would  not  suffer  any  one  to -harm  them. 
After  a  while  they  went  back  to  England ;  and 
whether  the  mother  made  up  any  more  songs  about 
the  Black  Douglas  I  cannot  tell. 


THREE   MEN   OF   GOTHAM. 

There  is  a  town  in  England  called  Go-tham,  and 
many  merry  stories  are  told  of  the  queer  people  who 
used  to  live  there. 

One  day  two  men  of  Go-tham  met  on  a  bridge. 
Hodge  was  coming  from  the  market,  and  Peter  was 
going  to  the  market. 

"  Where  are  you  going  ?  "  said  Hodge. 

"  I  am  going  to  the  market  to  buy  sheep,''  said 
Peter. 

"  Buy  sheep  ?  "  said  Hodge.  "  And  which  way 
will  you  bring  them  home  ?  " 

"  I  shall  bring  them  over  this  bridge,"  said  Peter. 

"  No,  you  shall  not,"  said  Hodge. 

"  Yes,  but  I  will,"  said  Peter, 

"  You  shall  not,"  said  Hodge. 

"  I  will,"  said  Peter. 


40 

Then  they  beat  with  their  sticks  on  the  ground  as 
though  there  had  been  a  hundred  sheep  between 
them. 

"  Take  care !  "  cried  Peter.  "  Look  out  that  my 
sheep  don't  jump  on  the  bridge." 

"  I  care  not  where  they  jump,"  said  Hodge ;  **  but 
they  shall  not  go  over  it." 

"  But  they  shall,"  said  Peter. 

"  Have  a  care,"  said  Hodge;  "for  if  you  say  too 
much,  I  will  put  my  fingers  in  your  mouth." 

''Will  you?"  said  Peter. 

Just  then  another  man  of  Gotham  came  from 
the  market  with  a  sack  of  meal  on  his  horse.  He 
heard  his  neigh-bors  quar-rel-ing  about  sheep ;  but 
he  could  see  no  sheep  between  them,  and  so  he 
stopped  and  spoke  to  them. 

"  Ah,  you  foolish  fellows ! "  he  cried.  "  It  is 
strange  that  you  will  never  learn  wisdom. —  Come 
here,  Peter,  and  help  me  lay  my  sack  on  my 
shoul-der." 

Peter  did  so,  and  the  man  carried  his  meal  to  the 
side  of  the  bridge. 

"  Now  look  at  me,"  he  said,  "  and  learn  a  lesson." 
And  he  opened  the  mouth  of  the  sack,  and  poured 
all  the  meal  into  the  river. 

"  Now,  neighbors,"  he  said,  "  can  you  tell  how 
much  meal  is  in  my  sack  ? " 


•«■    »  ^ ' 


How  much  meal  is  in  my  sack?" 


42 

"  There  is  none  at  all !  "  cried  Hodge  and  Peter 
together. 

"  You  are  right,"  said  the  man ;  "  and  you  that 
stand  here  and  quarrel  about  nothing,  have  no  more 
sense  in  your  heads  than  I  have  meal  in  my  sack !  " 


OTHER   WISE   MEN   OF   GOTHAM. 

One  day,  news  was  brought  to  Gotham  that  the 
king  was  coming  that  way,  and  that  he  would  pass 
through  the  town.  This  did  not  please  the  men  of 
Gotham  at  all.  They  hated  the  king,  for  they  knew 
that  he  was  a  cruel,  bad  man.  If  he  came  to  their 
town,  they  would  have  to  find  food  and  lodg-ing  for 
him  and  his  men;  and  if  he  saw  anything  that 
pleased  him,  he  would  be  sure  to  take  it  for  his 
own.     What  should  they  do.^^ 

They  met  together  to  talk  the  matter  over. 

"  Let  us  chop  down  the  big  trees  in  the  woods,  so 
that  they  will  block  up  all  the  roads  that  lead  into 
the  town,"  said  one  of  the  wise  men. 

"  Good  !  "  said  all  the  rest. 

So  they  went  out  with  their  axes,  and  soon  all  the 
roads  and  paths  to  the  town  were  filled  with  logs 
and  brush.  The  kings  horse-men  would  have  a 
hard  time  of  it  getting  into  Gotham.     They  would 


43 

either  have  to  make  a  new  road,  or  give  up  the 
plan  al-to-geth-er,  and  go  on  to  some  other  place. 

When  the  king  came,  and  saw  that  the  road  had 
been  blocked  up,  he  was  very  angry. 

"Who  chopped  those  trees  down  in  my  way?" 
he  asked  of  two  country  lads  that  were  passing  by. 

"  The  men  of  Gotham,"  said  the  lads. 

''Well,"  said  the  king,  "  go  and  tell  the  men  of 
Gotham  that  I  shall  send  my  sher-iff  into  their  town, 
and  have  all  their  noses  cut  off,^ 

The  two  lads  ran  to  the  town  as  fast  as  they 
could,  and  made  known  what  the  king  had  said. 

Every-body  was  in  great  fright.  The  men  ran 
from  house  to  house,  carrying  the  news,  and  asking 
one  another  what  they  should  do. 

"  Our  wits  have  kept  the  king  out  of  the  town," 
said  one ;  "  and  so  now  our  wits  must  save  our 
noses.'' 

"  True,  true !  "  said  the  others.  "  But  what  shall 
wedo.^" 

Then  one,  whose  name  was  Dobbin,  and  who  was 
thought  to  be  the  wisest  of  them  all,  said,  "  Let  me 
tell  you  something.  Many  a  man  has  been  pun- 
ished because  he  was  wise,  but  I  have  never  heard 
of  any  one  being  harmed  because  he  was  a  fool. 
So,  when  the  kings  sher-iff  comes,  let  us  all  act 
like  fools." 


44 

"  Good,  good !  "  cried  the  others.  "  We  will  all  act 
like  fools." 

It  was  no  easy  thing  for  the  king's  men  to  open 
the  roads ;  and  while  they  were  doing  it,  the  king 
grew  tired  of  waiting,  and  went  back  to  London. 
But  very  early  one  morning,  the  sheriff  with  a  party 
of  fierce  soldiers  rode  through  the  woods,  and  be- 
tween the  fields,  toward  Gotham.  Just  before  they 
reached  the  town,  they  saw  a  queer  sight.  The  old 
men  were  rolling  big  stones  up  the  hill,  and  all  the 
young  men  were  looking  on,  and  grunting  very 
loudly. 

The  sheriff  stopped  his  horses,  and  asked  what 
they  were  doing. 

"  We  are  rolling  stones  up-hill  to  make  the  sun 
rise,"  said  one  of  the  old  men. 

"  You  foolish  fellow  !  "  said  the  sheriff.  "  Don't 
you  know  that  the  sun  will  rise  without  any  help  ? " 

"  Ah  !  will  it }  "  said  the  old  man.'  "  Well,  I  never 
thought  of  that.     How  wise  you  are  !  " 

"And  what  are  jyou  doing  .^^ "  said  the  sheriff  to 
the  young  men. 

"  Oh,  we  do  the  grunting  while  our  fathers  do  the 
working,"  they  answered. 

"  I  see,"  said  the  sheriff.  "  Well,  that  is  the  way 
the  world  goes  every- where."  And  he  rode  on 
toward  the  town. 


45 

He  soon  came  to  a  field  where  a  number  of  men 
were  building  a  stone  wall. 

"  What  are  you  doing  ?  "  he  asked. 

"  Why,  master,"  they  answered, ''  there  is  a  cuck-oo 
in  this  field,  and  we  are  building  a  wall  around  it  so 
as  to  keep  the  bird  from  straying  away." 

'*You  foolish  fellows !  "  said  the  sheriff.  "Don't 
you  know  that  the  bird  will  fly  over  the  top  of  your 
wall,  no  matter  how  high  you  build  it  ?  " 

"  Why,  no,"  they  said.  "  We  never  thought  of 
that.     How  very  wise  you  are  !  " 

The  sheriff  next  met  a  man  who  was  carrying  a 
door  on  his  back. 

"  What  are  you  doing  ?  "  he  asked. 

"  I  have  just  started  on  a  long  jour-ney,"  said  the 
man. 

"  But  why  do  you  carry  that  door  ? "  asked  the 
sheriff. 

"  I  left  my  money  at  home." 

"  Then  why  didn't  you  leave  the  door  at  home 
too  ? " 

"  I  was  afraid  of  thieves ;  and  you  see,  if  I  have  the 
door  with  me,  they  can't  break  it  open  and  get  in." 

"  You  foolish  fellow !  "  said  the  sheriff.  "  It  would 
be  safer  to  leave  the  door  at  home,  and  carry  the 
money  with  you^ 

"  Ah,  would  it,  though  ?  "  said  the  man.     "  Now, 


46 

I  never  thought  of  that.  You  are  the  wisest  man 
that  I  ever  saw." 

Then  the  sheriff  rode  on  with  his  men ;  but  every 
one  that  they  met  was  doing  some  silly  thing. 

"  Truly  I  believe  that  the  people  of  Gotham  are 
all  fools,"  said  one  of  the  horsemen. 

"  That  is  true,"  said  another.  "  It  would  be  a 
shame  to  harm  such  simple  people." 

"  Let  us  ride  back  to  London,  and  tell  the  king 
all  about  them,"  said  the  sheriff. 

"  Yes,  let  us  do  so,"  said  the  horsemen. 

So  they  went  back,  and  told  the  king  that  Gotham 
was  a  town  of  fools ;  and  the  king  laughed,  and  said 
that  if  that  was  the  case,  he  would  not  harm  them, 
but  would  let  them  keep  their  noses. 


THE   MILLER   OF  THE   DEE. 

Once  upon  a  time  there  lived  on  the  banks  of  the 
River  Dee  a  miller,  who  was  the  hap-pi-est  man  in 
England.  He  was  always  busy  from  morning  till 
night,  and  he  was  always  singing  as  merrily  as  any 
lark.  He  was  so  cheerful  th^  he  made  everybody 
else  cheerful ;  and  people  all  over  the  land  liked  to 
talk  about  his  pleasant  ways.  At  last  the  king 
heard  about  him. 


47 

"  I  will  go  down  and  talk  with  this  won-der-ful 
miller,"  he  said.  "  Perhaps  he  can  tell  me  how  to 
be  happy." 

As  soon  as  he  stepped  inside  of  the  mill,  he 
heard  the  miller  singing  :  — 

"  I  envy  no-body  —  no,  not  II  —  ^ 

For  I  am  as  happy  as  I  can  be ; 
And  nobody  envies  me." 

"  You're  wrong,  my  friend,"  said  the  king.  "  You're 
wrong  as  wrong  can  be.  I  envy  you ;  and  I  would 
gladly  change  places  with  you,  if  I  could  only  be  as 
light-hearted  as  you  are." 

The  miller  smiled,  and  bowed  to  the  king. 

"  I  am  sure  I  could  not  think  of  changing  places 
with  you,  sir,"  he  said. 

"  Now  tell  me,"  said  the  king,  "  what  makes  you 
so  cheerful  and  glad  here  in  your  dusty  mill,  while 
I,  who  am  king,  am  sad  and  in  trouble  every  day." 

The  miller  smiled  again,  and  said,  "  I  do  not  know 
why  you  are  sad,  but  I  can  eas-i-ly  tell  why  I  am 
glad.  I  earn  my  own  bread;  I  love  my  wife  and 
my  children  ;  I  love  my  friends,  and  they  love  me ; 
and  I  owe  not  a  penny  to  any  man.  Why  should 
I  not  be  happy  .f^  For  here  is  the  River  Dee,  and 
every  day  it  turns  my  mill ;  and  the  mill  grinds  the 
corn  that  feeds  my  wife,  my  babes,  and  me." 


48 


v,.;^-    jT'^  ~'-;  o     "  Say  no  more,"  said 
*j:i^,-  ^V.c.,-'  the  king.     "Stay 


ere     you 

'Ml[»^^^,_ '--'...      happy    still. 


envy 


you.    Your  x^    / 

dusty    cap    is     worth      '" 

more      than       my  "'^^^  i' 

golden  crown.      Your  mill 

does  more  for  you  than  my  kingdom  can   do  for 

me.      If  there  were  more  such  men   as  you,  what 


49 

a  good  place  this  world  would  be !     Good-by,  my 
friend !  " 

The  king  turned  about,  and  walked  sadly  away; 
and  the  miller  went  back  to  his  work,  singing :  — 

"Oh,  I'm  as  happy  as  happy  can  be, 
For  I  live  by  the  side  of  the  River  Dee  I " 


SIR   PHILIP   SIDNEY. 

A  CRUEL  battle  was  being  fought.  The  ground 
was  covered  with  dead  and  dying  men.  The  air 
was  hot  and  stifling.  The  sun  shone  down  without 
pity  on  the  wounded  soldiers  lying  in  the  blood  and 
dust. 

One  of  these  soldiers  was  a  no-ble-man,  whom 
everybody  loved  for  his  gen-tle-ness  and  kindness. 
Yet  now  he  was  no  better  off  than  the  poorest 
man  in  the  field.  He  had  been  wounded,  and  would 
die ;  and  he  was  suf-fer-ing  much  with  pain  and 
thirst. 

When  the  battle  was  over,  his  friends  hurried  to 
his  aid.  A  soldier  came  running  with  a  cup  in  his 
hand. 

"  Here,  Sir  Philip,"  he  said,  "  I  have  brought  you 
some  clear,  cool  water  from  the  brook.  I  will  raise 
your  head  so  that  you  can  drink." 

FIFTY   FAM.  STO.  —  4 


so 

The  cup  was  placed  to  Sir  Philip's  lips.  How 
thank-ful-ly  he  looked  at  the  man  who  had  brought 
it !  Then  his  eyes  met  those  of  a  dying  soldier 
who  was  lying  on  the  ground  close  by.  The  wist- 
ful look  in  the  poor  man's  face  spoke  plainer  than 
words.  / 

"Give  the  water  to  that  man,"  said  Sir  Philip 
quickly ;  and  then,  pushing  the  cup  toward  him, 
he  said,  *'  Here,  my  comrade,  take  this.  Thy  need 
is  greater  than  mine." 

What  a  brave,  noble  man  he  was !  The  name 
of  Sir  Philip  Sidney  will  never  be  for-got-ten ;  for 
it  was  the  name  of  a  Chris-tian  gen-tle-man  who 
always  had  the  good  of  others  in  his  mind.  Was 
it  any  wonder  that  every bodv  wept  when  it  was 
heard  that  he  was  dead  } 

It  is  said,  that,  on  the  day  when  he  was  carried 
to  the  grave,  every  eye  in  the  land  was  filled  with 
tears.  Rich  and  poor,  high  and  low,  all  felt  that 
they  had  lost  a  friend ;  all  mourned  the  death  of 
the  kindest,  gentlest  man  that  they  had  ever  known. 


51 


THE   UNGRATEFUL   SOLDIER. 

Here  is  another  story  of  the  bat-tle-field,  and 
it  is  much  like   the  one  which    I   have   just    told 

Not  quite  a  hundred  years  after  the  time  of  Sir 
Philip  Sidney  there  was  a  war  between  the  Swedes 
and  the  Danes.  One  day  a  great  battle  was  fought, 
and  the  Swedes  were  beaten,  and  driven  from  the 
field.  A  soldier  of  the  Danes  who  had  been  slightly 
wounded  was  sitting  on  the  ground.  He  was  about 
to  take  a  drink  from  a  flask.  All  at  once  he  heard 
sorne  one  say, — 

"  O  sir !  give  me  a  drink,  for  I  am  dying." 

It  was  a  wounded  Swede  who  spoke.  He  was 
lying  on  the  ground  only  a  little  way  off.  The 
Dane  went  to  him  at  once.  He  knelt  down  by  the 
side  of  his  fallen  foe,  and  pressed  the  flask  to  his 
lips. 

"  Drink,"  said  he,  "for  thy  need  is  greater  than 
mine." 

Hardly  had  he  spoken  these  words,  when  the 
Swede  raised  himself  on  his  elbow.  He  pulled  a 
pistol  from  his  pocket,  and  shot  at  the  man  who 
would  have  be-friend-ed  him.  The  bullet  grazed  the 
Dane's  shoulder,  but  did  not  do  him  much  harm. 

"  Ah,  you   rascal ! "  he  cried.     "  I  was  going  to 


52 

befriend  you,  and  you  repay  me  by  trying  to  kill 
me.  Now  I  will  punish  you.  I  would  have  given 
you  all  the  water,  but  now  you  shall  have  only 
half."  And  with  that  he  drank  the  half  of  it,  and 
then  gave  the  rest  to  the  Swede. 


When  the  King  of  the  Danes  heara  about  this, 
he  sent  for  the  soldier  and  had  him  tell  the  story 
just  as  it  was.  ^  .     , 

"  Why  did  you  sjiare  the  life  of  the  Swede  after 
he  had  tried  to  kill  you  ?  "  asked  the  king. 


53 


"  Because,  sir,"  said  the  soldier,  "  I  could  never 
kill  a  wounded  enemy. 

"  Then  you'^esi^veu)  ^  a  no-ble-man,"  said  the 
king.  And  he  re-ward-ed  him  by  making  him  a 
knight,  and  giving  him  a  noble  title. 


SIR  HUMPHREY  GILBERT. 

More  than  three  hundred  years  ago  there  lived  in 
England  a  brave  man  whose  name  was  Sir  Hum- 
phrey Gil-bert.  At  that  time  there  were  no  white 
people  in  this  country  of  ours.  The  land  was  cov- 
ered with  forests;  and  where  there  are  now  gseat' 
cities  and  fine  farms  there  were  only  trees^nd 
swamps  among  which  roamed  wild  In-di-ans  and 
wild  beasts. 

Sir  Hum-phrey  Gilbert  was  one  of  the  first  men 
who  tried  to  make  a  set-tle-ment  in  A-mer-i-ca. 
Twice  did  he  bring  men  and  ships  over  the  sea,  and 
twice  did  he  fail,  and  sail  back  for  England.  The 
second  time,  he  was  on  a  little  ship  called  the  "  Squir- 
rel." Another  ship,  called  the  "  Golden  Hind,"  was 
not  far  away.  When  they  were  three  days  from 
land,  the  wind  failed,  and  the  ships  lay  floating  on 
the  waves.  Then  at  night  the  air  grew  very  cold. 
A  breeze  sprang    up   from  the  east .    Great  white 

T 


54 

ice-bergs  came  drifting  around  them.  In  the 
morning  the  little  ships  were  almost  lost  among 
the  floating  mountains  of  ice.  The  men  on  the 
^'Hind''  saw  Sir  Humphrey  sitting  on  the  deck 
of  the  "  Squirrel "  with  an  open  book  in  his  hand. 
He  called  to  them  and  said, — 

"  Be  brave,  my  friends  !  We  are  as  near  heaven 
on  the  sea  as  on  the  land." 

Night  came  again.     It  was  a  stormy  night,  with  , 
mist  and  rain.    All  at  once  the  men  on  the  "  Hind  " 
saw  the  lights  on  board  of  the  "Squirrel"  go  out. 
The  little  vessel,  with  brave  Sir  Humphrey  and  all 
his  brave  men,  was  swal-lowed  up  by  the  waves. 

SIR   WALTER   RALEIGH. 

There  once  lived  in  England  a  brave  and  noble 
man  whose  name  was  Walter  Ra-leigh.  He  was 
not  only  brave  and  noble,  but  he  was  also  hand- 
some and  polite ;  and  for  that  reason  the  queen 
made  him  a  knight,  and  called  him  Sir  Walter 
Ra-leigh. 

I  will  tell  you  about  it. 

When  Raleigh  was  a  young  man,  he  was  one  day 

walking  along  a  street  in   London.     At  that  time 

/ihe  streets  were  not  paved,  and  there  were  no  side- 


55 

walks.  Raleigh  was  dressed  in  very  fine  style,  and 
he  wore  a  beau-ti-ful  scar-let  cloak  thrown  over  his 
shoulders. 

As  he  passed  along,  he  found  it  hard  work  to 
keep  from  stepping  in  the  mud,  and  soiling  his 
hand-some  new  shoes.  Soon  he  came  to  a  puddle 
of  muddy  water  which  reached  from  one  side  of  the 
street  to  the  otiier.  He  could  not  step  across.  Per- 
haps he  could  jump  over  it. 

As  he  was  thinking  what  he.  should  do,  he  hap- 
pened to  look  up.  Who  was  it  coming  down  the 
street,  on  the  other  side  of  the  puddle  ? 

It  was  E-liz-a-beth,  the  Queen  of  England,  with 
her  train  of  gen-tle-wom-en  and  waiting  maids.  She 
saw  the  dirty  puddle  in  the  street.  She  saw  the 
handsome  young  man  with  the  scar-let  cloak,  stand- 
ing by  the  side  of  it.     How  was  she  to  get  across  .f^ 

Young  Raleigh,  when  he  saw  who  was  coming, 
forgot  atout  liimself.  He  thought  only  of  helping 
the  queen.  There  was  only  one  thing  that  he  could 
do,  and  no  other  man  would  have  thoueht  of  that. 

He  took  off  his  scarlet  cloak,  and  spread  it  across 
the  puddle.  The  queen  couM  step  on  it  now,  as  on 
a  beautiful  carpet. 

She  walked  across.  She  was  safely  over  the  ugly 
.^  peddle,  and  her  feet  had  not  touched  the  mud.  She 
pausea  a  moment,  and  thanked  the  young  man. 


56 

As  she  walkea  onward  with  her  train,  she  asked 
one  of  the  gen-tle-wom-en,  ['  Who  is  that"  brave 
gen-tle-man  who  helped  us  so  handsomely  ? " 

"  His  name  is  Walter  Raleigh,"  said  the  gentle- 
woman. 

"  He  shall  have  his  reward,"  said  the  queen. 

Not  long  after  that,  she  sent  for  Raleigh  to  come 
to  her  pal-ace.  ♦ 

The  young  man  went,  but  he  had  ho  scarlet  cloak 
to  wear.  Then,  while  all  the  great  men  and  fine 
ladies  of  England  stood  around,  the  queen  made 
him  a  knight.  And  from  that  time  he  was  known 
as  Sir  Walter  Raleigh,  the  queen's  favorite. 

Sir  Walter  Raleigh  and  Sir  Humphrey  Gilbert, 
about  whom  I  have  already  told  you,  were  half- 
broth-ers. 

When  Sir  Humphrey  made  his  first  voy-age  to 
America,  Sir  Walter  was  with  him.  After  that,  Sir 
Walter  tried  sev-er-al  times  to  send  men  to  this 
country  to  make  a  set-tle-ment. 

But  those  whom  he  sent  found  only  great  forests, 
and  wild  beasts,  and  sav-age  In-di-ans.  Some  of 
them  went  back  to  England;  some  of  them  died 
for  want  of  food ;  and  some  of  them  were  lost  in 
the  woods.  At  last  Sir  Walter  gave  up  trying  to 
get  people  to  come  to  America. 

But  he  found  two  things  in  this  country  which 


the  people  of  England  knew  very  little  about.  One 
was  the  po-ta-to,  the  other  was  to-bac-co. 

If  you  should  ever  go  to  Ireland,  you  may  be 
shown-  the  place  where  Sir  Walter  planted  the  few 
po-ta-toes  which  he  carried  over  from  America.  He 
told  his  friends  how  the  Indians  used  them  for  food; 
and  he  proved  that  they  would  grow  in  the  Old 
World  as  well  as  in  the  New. 

Sir  Walter  had  seen  the  Indians  smoking  the 
leaves  of  the  to-bac-co  plant.  He  thought  that  he 
would  do  the  same,  and  he  carried  some  of  the 
leaves  to  England.  Englishmen  had  never  used 
tobacco  before  that  time;  and  all  who  saw  Sir 
Walter  puff-ing  away  at  a  roll  of  leaves  thought 
that  it  was  a  strange  sight. 

One  day  as  he  was  sitting  in  his  chair  and  smok- 
ing, his  servant  came  into  the  room.  The  man  saw 
the  smoke  curling  over  his  master's  head,  and  he 
thought  that  he  was  on  fire. 

He  ran  out  for  some  water.  He  found  a  pail 
that  was  quite  full.  He  hurried  back,  and  threw 
the  water  into  Sir  Walters  face.  Of  course  the 
fire  was  all  put  out. 

After  that  a  great  many  men  learned  to  smoke. 
And  now  tobacco  is  used  in  all  countries  of  the 
world.  It  would  have  been  well  if  Sir  Walter 
Raleigh  had  let  it  alone. 


58 


POCAHONTAS. 

There  was  once  a  very  brave  man  whose  name 
was  John  Smith.  He  came  to  this  country  many 
years  ago,  when  there  were  great  woods  everywhere, 
and  many  wild  beasts  and  Indians.  Many  tales 
are  told  of  his  ad-ven-tures,  some  of  them  true  and 
some  of  them  untrue.  The  most  famous  of  all  these 
is  the  fol-low-ing : — 

One  day  when  Smith  was  in  the  woods,  some 
Indians  came  upon  him,  and  made  him  their 
pris-on-er.  They  led  him  to  their  king,  and 
in  a  short  time  they  made  ready  to  put  him  to 
death. 

A  large  stone  was  brought  in,  and  Smith  was 
made  to  lie  down  with  his  head  on  it.  Then  two 
tall  Indians  with  big  clubs  in  their  hands  came  for- 
ward. The  king  and  all  his  great  men  stood  around 
to  see.  The  Indians  raised  their  clubs.  In  another 
moment  they  would  fall  on  Smith  s  head. 

But  just  then  a  little  Indian  girl  rushed  in.  She 
was  the  daugh-ter  of  the  king,  and  her  name  was 
Po-ca-hon'tas.  She  ran  and  threw  herself  between 
Smith  and  the  up-lift-ed  clubs.  She  clasped  Smith's 
head  with  her  arms.  She  laid  her  own  head  upon 
his. 

"  O  father !  "  she  cried,  "  spare  this  man's  life.     I 


59 

am  sure  he  has  done  you  no  harm,  and  we  ought  to 
be  his  friends." 

The  men  with  the  clubs  could  not  strike,  for.  they 
did  not  want  to  hurt  the  child.  The  king  at  first 
did  not  know  what  to  do.  Then  he  spoke  to  some 
of  his  war-riors,  and  they  lifted  Smith  from  the 
ground.  They  untied  the  cords  from  his  wrists  and 
feet,  and  set  him  free. 

The  next  day  the  king  sent  Smith  home;  and 
several  Indians  went  with  him  to  protect  him  from 
harm. 

After  that,  as  long  as  she  lived,  Po-ca-hon-tas  was 
the  friend  of  the  white  men,  and  she  did  a  great 
many  things  to  help  them. 


GEORGE   WASHINGTON   AND   HIS    HATCHET. 

When  George  Wash-ing-ton  was  quite  a  little  boy, 
his  father  gave  him  a  hatchet.  It  was  bright  and 
new,  and  George  took  great  delight  in  going  about 
and  chopping  things  with  it. 

He  ran  into  the  garden^  and  there  he  saw  a  tree 
which  seemed  to  say  to  him,  "  Come  and  cut  me 
down ! " 

George  had  often  seen  his  father's  men  chop 
down  the  great  trees  in  the  forest,  and  he  thought 


6o 


//       that    it 
would  be  fine 


sport     to     see 
this  tree  fall  with 
a     crash      to      the 
ground.      So    he    set     to 
work   with   his   little    hatchet,  and, 
as    the    tree    was    a  very   small    one, 
it  did  not  take  long  to  lay  it  low. 

Soon  after  that,  his  father  came  home. 
"  Who  has  been   cutting  my  fine  young  cherry 
tree  ?  "  he  cried.     ''  It  was  the  only  tree  of  its  kind 


6i 

in  this  country,  and  it  cost  nie  a  great  deal  oi 
money." 

He  was  very  angry  when  he  came  into  the  house. 

''  If  I  only  knew  who  killed  that  cherry  tree,''  he 
cried,  "  I  would  —  yes,  I  would"  — 

"  Father  !  "  cried  little  George.  ''  I  will  tell  you 
the  truth  about  it.  I  chopped  the  tree  down  with 
my  hatchet." 

His  father  forgot  his  anger. 

"  George,"  he  said,  and  he  took  the  little  fellow  in 
his  arms,  "  George,  I  am  glad  that  you  told  me 
about  it.  I  would  rather  lose  a  dozen  cherry  trees 
than  that  you  should  tell  one  false-hood."  • 


GRACE   DARLING. 

It  was  a  dark  Sep-tem-ber  morning.  There  was 
a  storm  at  sea.  A  ship  had  been  driven  on  a  low 
rock  off  the  shores  of  the  Fame  Islands.  It  had  been 
broken  in  two  by  the  waves,  and  half  of  it  had  been 
washed  away.  The  other  half  lay  yet  on  the  rock,  and 
those  of  the  crew  who  were  still  alive  were  clinging 
to  it.  But  the  waves  were  dashing  over  it,  and  in  a 
little  while  it  too  would  be  carried  to  the  bottom. 

Could  any  one  save  the  poor,  half-drowned  men 
who  were  there  ? 


62 

On  one  of  the  islands  was  a  light-house;  and 
there,  all  through  that  stormy  night,  Grace  Darling 
had  listened  to  the  storm. 

Grace  was  the  daughter  of  the  light-house  keeper, 
and  she  had  lived  by  the  sea  as  long  as  she  could 
re-mem-ber. 

In  the  darkness  of  the  night,  above  the  noise  of  the 
winds  and  waves,  she  heard  screams  and  wild  cries. 
When  day-light  came,  she  could  see  the  wreck,  a 
mile  away,  with  the  angry  waters  all  around  it.  She 
could  see  the  men  clinging  to  the  masts. 

"  We  must  try  to  save  them  !  "  she  criedc  "  Let 
us  go  out  in  the  boat  at  once ! " 

"  It  is  of  no  use,  Grace,"  said  her  father.  "  We 
cannot  reach  them." 

He  was  an  old  man,  and  he  knew  the  force  of  the 
mighty  waves. 

"  We  cannot  stay  here  and  see  them  die,"  said 
Grace.     "  We  must  at  least  try  to  save  them." 

Her  father  could  not  say,  "  No." 

In  a  few  minutes  they  were  ready.  They  set  off 
in  the  heavy  lighthouse  boat.  Grace  pulled  one 
oar,  and  her  father  the  other,  and  they  made  straight 
toward  the  wreck.  But  it  was  hard  rowing  against 
such  a  sea,  and  it  seemed  as  though  they  would 
never  reach  the  place. 

At  last  they  were  close  to    the  rock,  and    now 


63 

they  were  in  greater  danger  than  before.  The  fierce 
waves  broke  against  the  boat,  and  it  would  have 
been  dashed  in  pieces,  had  it  not  been  for  the 
strength  and  skill  of  the  brave  girl. 

But  after  many  trials,  Grace's  father  climbed 
upon  the  wreck,  while  Grace  herself  held  the  boat. 
Then  one  by  one  the  worn-out  crew  were  helped 
on  board.  It  was  all  that  the  girl  could  do  to  keep 
the  frail  boat  from  being  drifted  away,  or  broken 
upon  the  sharp  edges  of  the  rock. 

Then  her  father  clam-bered  back  into  his  place. 
Strong  hands  grasped  the  oars,  and  by  and  by  all 
were  safe  in  the  lighthouse.  There  Grace  proved 
to  be  no  less  tender  as  a  nurse  than  she  had  been 
brave  as  a  sailor.  She  cared  most  kindly  for  the  ship- 
wrecked men  until  the  storm  had  died  away  and  they 
were  strong  enough  to  go  to  their  own  homes. 

All  this  happened  a  long  time  ago,  but  the  name 

of  Grace  Darling  will  never  be  forgotten.     She  lies 

buried  now  in  a  little  church-yard  by  the  sea,  not 

far  from  her  old  home.     Every  year  many  people 

go  there  to  see  her  grave ;  and  there  a  mon-u-ment 

has  been  placed  in  honor  of  the  brave  girl.     It  is 

not  a  large  mon-u-ment,  but  it  is  one  that  speaks  of 

the  noble  deed  which  made  Grace  Darling  famous. 

It  is  a  figure  carved  in  stone  of  a  woman  lying  at 

rest,  with  a  boat's  oar  held  fast  in  her  riHit  hnnd^ 

^^^B  R  A  R  yV 

^r  OF   TtIK 

f  UNI VPRSIT  v^ 


64 


THE    STORY    OF    WILLIAM   TELL. 

The  people  of  ,Svvit-zer-land  were  not  always  free 
and  happy  as  they  are  to-day.  Many  years  ago  a 
proud  tyrant,  whose  name  was  Gessler,  ruled  over 
them,  and  made  their  lot  ::  bitter  one  indeed. 

One  day  this  tyrant  set  up  a  tall  pole  in  the  pub- 
lic square,  and  put  his  own  cap  on  the  top  of  it ; 
and  then  he  gave  orders  that  every  man  who  came 
into  the  town  shoulct  bow  down  before  it.  But 
there  was  one  mxan,  named  William  Tell,  who 
would  not  do  this.  He  stood  up  straight  with 
folded  arms,  and  laughed  at  the  swinging  cap. 
He  would  not  bow  down  to  Gessler  himself. 

When  Gessler  heard  of  this,  he  was  very  angry. 
He  was  afraid  that  other  men  would  disobey,  and 
that  soon  the  whole  country  would  rebel  against  him. 
So  he  made  up  his  mind  to  punish  the  bold  man. 

William  Tell's  home  was  among  the  mountains, 
and  he  was  a  famous  hunter.  No  one  in  all  the 
land  could  shoot  with  bow  and  arrow  so  well  as  he. 
Gessler  knew  this,  and  so  he  thought  of  a  cruel  plan 
to  make  the  hunter's  own  skill  bring  him  to  grief. 
He  ordered  that  TelFs  little  boy  should  be  made  to 
stand  up  in  the  public  square  with  an  apple  on  his 
head ;  and  then  he  bade  Tell  shoot  the  apple  with 
one  of  his  arrows. 


6s 

Tell  begged  the  tyrant  not  to  have  him  make 
this  test  of.  his  skill.  What  if  the  boy  should 
move  ?  W  hat  if  the  bow-man's  hand  should  trem- 
ble ?     What  if  the  arrow  should  not  carry  true  ? 


"  Will  you  make  me  kill  my  boy  ?  "  he  said. 

"  Say  no  more,"  said  Gessler.  "  You  must  hit 
the  apple  with  your  one  arrow.  If  you  fail,  my 
sol-diers  shall  kill  the  boy  before  your  eyes." 


FIFTY   FAM.   STO.  —  5 


66 

Then,  without  another  word,  Tell  fitted  the 
arrow  to  his  bow.  He  took  aim,  and  let  it  fly. 
The  boy  stood  firm  and  still.  He  was  not  afraid, 
for  he  had  all  faith  in  his  father's  skill. 

The  arrow  whistled  through  the  air.  It  struck 
the  apple  fairly  in  the  center,  and  carried  it  away. 
The  people  who  saw  it  shouted  with  joy. 

As  Tell  was  turning  away  from  the  place,  an 
arrow  which  he  had  hidden  under  his  coat  dropped 
to  the  ground. 

"  Fellow !  "  cried  Gessler,  "  what  mean  you  with 
this  second  arrow  ?  " 

"  Tyrant !  "  was  Tell's  proud  answer,  "  this  arrow 
was  for  your  heart  if  I  had  hurt  my  child." 

And  there  is  an  old  story,  that,  not  long  after 
this,  Tell  did  shoot  the  tyrant  with  one  of  his 
arrows ;   and  thus  he  set  his  country  free. 


ARNOLD   WINKELRIED. 

A  GREAT  army  was  marching  into  Swit-zer-land. 
If  it  should  go  much  farther,  there  would  be  no 
driving  it  out  again.  The  soldiers  would  burn 
the  towns,  they  would  rob  the  farmers  of  their 
grain  and  sheep,  they  would  make  slaves  of  the 
people. 


67 

The  men  of  Switzerland  knew  all  this.  They 
knew  that  they  must  fight  for  their  homes  and 
their  lives.  And  so  they  came  from  the  mountains 
and  valleys  to  try  what  they  could  do  to  save  their 
land.  Some  came  with  bows  and  arrows,  some 
with  scythes  and  pitch-forks,  and  some  with  only 
sticks  and  clubs. 

But  their  foes  kept  in  line  as  they  marched  along 
the  road.  Every  soldier  was  fully  armed.  As  they 
moved  and  kept  close  together,  nothing  could  be 
seen  of  them  but  their  spears  and  shields  and  shin- 
ing armor.  What  could  the  poor  country  people 
do  against  such  foes  as  these  ? 

"  We  must  break  their  lines,"  cried  their  leader ; 
"for  we  cannot  harm  them  while  they  keep  to- 
gether." 

The  bowmen  shot  their  arrows,  but  they  glanced 
off  from  the  soldiers'  shields.  Others  tried  clubs 
and  stones,  but  with  no  better  luck.  The  lines 
were  still  un-bro-ken.  The  soldiers  moved  stead-i-ly 
onward;  their  shields  lapped  over  one  another; 
their  thousand  spears  looked  like  so  many  long 
bris-tles  in  the  sun-light.  What  cared  they  for 
sticks  and  stones  and  hunts-men's  arrows  ? 

"  If  we  cannot  break  their  ranks,"  said  the  Swiss, 
''we  have  no  chance  for  fight,  and  our  country  will 
be  lost!" 


68 

Then  a  poor  man,  whose  name  was  Ar-nold 
Wink'el-ried,  stepped  out. 

"  On  the  side  of  yonder  moun-tain,"  said  he,  "  I 
have  a  happy  home.  There  my  wife  and  chil-dren 
wait  for  my  return.  But  they  will  not  see  me 
again,  for  this  day  I  will  give  my  life  for  my  coun- 
try. And  do  you,  my  friends,  do  your  duty,  and 
Switzerland  shall  be  free." 

With  these  words  he  ran  forward.  "  Follow 
me !  "  he  cried  to  his  friends.  "  I  will  break  the  lines, 
and  then  let  every  man  fight  as  bravely  as  he  can/' 

He  had  nothing  in  his  hands,  neither  club  nor 
stone  nor  other  weapon.  But  he  ran  straight  on- 
ward to  the  place  where  the  spears  were  thickest. 

"  Make  way  for  lib-er-ty !  "  he  cried,  as  he  dashed 
right  into  the  lines. 

A  hundred  spears  were  turned  to  catch  him  upon 
their  points.  The  soldiers  forgot  to  stay  in  their 
places.  The  lines  were  broken.  Arnold's  friends 
rushed  bravely  after  him.  They  fought  with  what- 
ever they  had  in  hand.  They  snatched  spears  and 
shields  from  their  foes.  They  had  no  thought  of 
fear.  They  only  thought  of  their  homes  and  their 
dear  native  land.     And  they  won  at  last. 

Such  a  battle  no  one  ever  knew  before.  But 
Switzerland  was  saved,  and  Arnold  Wink-el-ried  did 
not  die  in  vain. 


69 


THE   BELL  OF  ATRL 

A-TRi  is  the  name  of  a  little  town  in  It-a-ly.  It  is 
a  very  old  town,  and  is  built  half-way  up  the  side  of 
a  steep  hill. 

A  long  time  ago,  the  King  of  Atri  bought  a  fine 
large  bell,  and  had  it  hung  up  in  a  tower  in  the 
market  place.  A  long  rope  that  reached  almost  to 
the  ground  was  fas-tened  to  the  bell.  The  smallest 
child  could  ring  the  bell  by  pulling  upon  this  rope. 

"  It  is  the  bell  of  justice,"  said  the  king. 

When  at  last  everything  was  ready,  the  people  of 
Atri  had  a  great  holiday.  All  the  men  and  women 
and  children  came  down  to  the  market  place  to  look 
at  the  bell  of  justice.  It  was  a  very  pretty  bell,  and 
was  pol-ished  until  it  looked  almost  as  bright  and 
yellow  as  the  sun. 

"  How  we  should  like  to  hear  it  ring ! "  they  said. 

Then  the  king  came  down  the  street. 

"  Perhaps  he  will  ring  it,"  said  the  people ;  and 
everybody  stood  very  still,  and  waited  to  see  what 
he  would  do. 

But  he  did  not  ring  the  bell.  He  did  not  even 
take  the  rope  in  his  hands.  When  he  came  to  the 
foot  of  the  tower,  he  stopped,  and  raised  his  hand. 

"  My  people,"  he  said,  "  do  you  see  this  beautiful 
bell }     It  is  your  bell ;  but  it  must  never  be  rung 


70 

except  in  case  of  need.  If  any  one  of  you  is  wronged 
at  any  time,  he  may  come  and  ring  the  bell ;  and 
then  the  judges  shall  come  together  at  once,  and 
hear  his  case,  and  give  him  justice.  Rich  and  poor, 
old  and  young,  all  alike  may  come;  but  no  one  must 
touch  the  rope  unless  he  knows  that  he  has  been 
wronged." 

Many  years  passed  by  after  this.  Many  times  did 
the  bell  in  the  market  place  ring  out  to  call  the 
judges  together.  Many  wrongs  were  righted,  many 
ill-doers  were  punished.  At  last  the  hempen  rope 
was  almost  worn  out.  The  lower  part  of  it  was  un- 
twist-ed ;  some  of  the  strands  were  broken ;  it  became 
so  short  that  only  a  tall  man  could  reach  it. 

"  This  will  never  do,"  said  the  judges  one  day. 
"  What  if  a  child  should  be  wronged  ?  It  could  not 
ring  the  bell  to  let  us  know^  it." 

They  gave  orders  that  a  new  rope  should  be  put 
upon  the  bell  at  once, —  a  rope  that  should  hang 
down  to  the  ground,  so  that  the  smallest  child  could 
reach  it.  But  there  was  not  a  rope  to  be  found 
in  all  Atri.  They  would  have  to  send  across  the 
mountains  for  one,  and  it  would  be  many  da3^s 
before  it  could  be  brought.  What  if  some  great 
wrong  should  be  done  before  it  came  ?  How  could 
the  judges  know  about  it,  if  the  in-jured  one  could 
not  reach  the  old  rope  ? 


71 
"Let  me  fix  it  for  ycu,"  said  a  man  who  stood 

by.  _        _ 

He  ran  into  his  garden,  which  was  not  far  away, 
and  soon  came  back  with  a  long  grape-vine  in  his 
hands. 

"  This  will  do  for  a  rope,"  he  said ;  and  he 
climbed  up,  and  fastened  it  to  the  bell.  The  slen- 
der vine,  with  its  leaves  and  ten-drils  still  upon  it, 
trailed  to  the  ground. 

"  Yes,"  said  the  judges,  "  it  is  a  very  good  rope. 
Let  it  be  as  it  is." 

Now,  on  the  hill-side  above  the  village,  there 
lived  a  man  who  had  once  been  a  brave  knight. 
In  his  youth  he  had  ridden  through  many  lands, 
and  he  had  fought  in  many  a  battle.  Hi^  best 
friend  through  all  that  time  had  been^his  horse, — 
a  strong,  noble  steed  that  had  borne  him  safe 
through  many  a  danger. 

But  the  knight,  when  he  grew  older^  cared  no 
more  to  ride  into  battle ;  he  cared  no  more  to  do 
brave  deeds ;  he  thought  of  nothing  but  gold ;  he 
became  a  miser.  At  last  he  sold  all  that  he  had, 
except  his  horse,  and  went  to  live  in  a  little  hut 
on  the  hill-side.  Day  after  day  he  sat  among  his 
money  bags,  and  planned  how  he  might  get  more 
gold ;  and  day  after  day  his  horse  stood  in  his  bare 
stall,  half-starved,  and  shiv-er-ine  with  cold. 


72 

"  What  is  the  use  of  keeping  that  lazy  steed  ?  " 
said  the  miser  to  himself  one  morning.  "  Every 
week  it  costs  me  more  to  keep  him  than  he  is 
worth.  I  might  sell  him;  but  there  is  not  a  man 
that  wants  him.  I  cannot  even  give  him  away.  I 
will  turn  him  out  to  shift  for  himself,  and  pick  grass 
by  the  roadside.  If  he  starves  to  death,  so  much 
the  better." 

So  the  brave  old  horse  was  turned  out  to  find 
what  he  could  among  the  rocks  on  the  barren  hill- 
side. Lame  and  sick,  he  strolled  along  the  dusty 
roads,  glad  to  find  a  blade  of  grass  or  a  thistle.  The 
boys  threw  stones  at  him,  the  dogs  barked  at  him, 
and  in  all  the  world  there  was  no  one  to  pity  him. 

One  hot  afternoon,  when  no  one  was  upon  the 
street,  the  horse  chanced  to  wander  into  the  mar- 
ket place.  Not  a  man  nor  child  was  there,  for 
the  heat  of  the  sun  had  driven  them  all  indoors. 
The  gates  were  wide  open;  the  poor  beast  could 
roam  where  he  pleased.  He  saw  the  grape-vine 
rope  that  hung  from  the  bell  of  justice.  The  leaves 
and  tendrils  upon  it  were  still  fresh  and  green,  for 
it  had  not  been  there  long.  What  a  fine  dinner 
they  would  be  for  a  starving  horse ! 

He  stretched  his  thin  neck,  and  took  one  of  the 
tempting  morsels  in  his  mouth.  It  was  hard  to 
break  it  from  the  vine.     He  pulled  at  it,  and  the 


73 


great  bell  above ,him  began  to  ring.     All  the  people 
in  Atri  heard  it.     It  seemed  to  say,  — 


"  Some  one 

has  done 

me  wrong ! 

Some  one 

has  done 

me  wrong  I 

Oh  !  come 

and  judge 

my  case  ! 

Oh  !  come 

and  judge 

my  case  ! 

For  I've 

been  wronged  ! 

!»» 

The  judges  heard  it.  They  put  on  their  robes, 
and  went  out  through  the  hot  streets  to  the  mar- 
ket place.  They  wondered  who  it  could  be  who 
would  ring  the  bell  at  such  a  time.  When  they 
passed  through  the  gate,  they  saw  the  old  horse 
nibbling  at  the  vine. 

"  Ha  !  "  cried  one,  *'  it  is  the  miser's  steed.  He  has 
come  to  call  for  justice ;  for  his  master,  as  every- 
body knows,  has  treated  him  most  shame-ful-ly." 

"  He  pleads  his  cause  as  well  as  any  dumb  brute 
can,"  said  another. 

"And  he  shall  have  justice ! "  said  the  third. 

Mean-while  a  crowd  of  men  and  women 'and  chil- 
dren had  come  into  the  market  place,  eager  to  learn 
what  cause  the  judges  were  about  to  try.  When 
they  saw  the  horse,  all  stood  still  in  wonder.  Then 
every  one  was  ready  to  tell  how  they  had  seen  him 
wan-der-ing  on  the  hills,  unfed,  un-cared  for,  while 
his  master  sat  at  home  counting  his  bags  of  gold. 

"  Go  bring  the  miser  before  us,"  said  the  judges. 


'Some  one  has  done  me  wrong!  " 


75 

And  when  he  came,  they  bade  him  stand  and 
hear  their  judg-ment. 

"  This  horse  has  served  you  well  for  many  a  year," 
they  said.  "  He  has  saved  you  from  many  a  peril. 
He  has  helped  you  gain  your  wealth.  Therefore 
we  order  that  one  half  of  all  your  gold  shall  be  set 
aside  to  buy  him  shelter  and  food,  a  green  pasture 
where  he  may  graze,  and  a  warm  stall  to  comfort 
him  in  his  old  age." 

The  miser  hung  his  head,  and  grieved  to  lose  his 
gold ;  but  the  people  shouted  with  joy,  and  the  horse 
was  led  away  to  his  new  stall  and  a  dinner  such  as 
he  had  not  had  in.  many  a  day. 


HOW   NAPOLEON   CROSSED   THE   ALPS. 

About  a  hundred  years  ago  there  lived  a  great 
gen-er-al  whose  name  was  Na-po'le-on  Bo'na-parte. 
He  was  the  leader  of  the  French  army;  and  France 
was  at  war  with  nearly  all  the  countries  around. 
He  wanted  very  much  to  take  his  soldiers  into 
It-a-ly ;  but  between  France  and  Italy  there  are 
high  mountains  called  the  Alps,  the  tops  of  which 
are  covered  with  snow. 

"  Is  it  pos-si-ble  to  cross  the  Alps  ? "  said  Na-po- 
le-on. 


76 

The  men  who  had  been  sent  to  look  at  the  passes 
over  the  mountains  shook  their  heads.  Then  one 
of  them  said,  "  It  may  be  possible,  but  '\- — 

"  Let  me  hear  no  more,"  said  Napoleon.  "  For- 
ward to  Italy!'' 

People  laughed  at  the  thought  of  an  army  of 
sixty  thousand  men  crossing  the  Alps  where  there 
was  no  road.  But  Napoleon  waited  only  to  see 
that  everything  was  in  good  order,  and  then  he 
gave  the  order  to  march. 

The  long  line  of  soldiers  and  horses  and  cannon 
stretched  for  twenty  miles.  When  they  came  to  a 
steep  place  where  there  seemed  to  be  no  way  to  go 
farther,  the  trum-pets  sounded  "  Charge  !  "  Then 
every  man  did  his  best,  and  the  whole  army  moved 
right  onward. 

Soon  they  were  safe  over  the  Alps.  In  four  days 
they  were  marching  on  the  plains  of  Italy. 

"  The  man  who  has  made  up  his  mind  to  win," 
said  Napoleon,  "  will  never  say  '  Im-pos-si-blCo' " 


THE   STORY   OF   CINCINNATUS. 

There  was  a  man  named  Cin-cin-na'tus  who  lived 
on  a  little  farm  not  far  from  the  city  of  Rome.  He 
had  once  been  rich,  and  had  held  the  highest  office 


17 

in  the  land ;  but  in  one  way  or  another  he  had  lost 
all  his  wealth.  He  was  now  so  poor  that  he  had  to 
do  all  the  work  on  his  farm  with  his  own  hands. 
But  in  those  days  it  was  thought  to  be  a  noble 
thing  to  till  the  soil. 

Cin-cin-na-tus  was  so  wise  and  just  that  every- 
body trusted  him,  and  asked  his  advice;  and  when 
any  one  was  in  trouble,  and  did  not  know  what  to 
do,  his  neighbors  would  say, — 

"  Go  and  tell  Cincinnatus.     He  will  help  you." 

Now  there  lived  among  the  mountains,  not  far 
away,  a  tribe  of  fierce,  half-wild  men,  who  were  at 
war  with  the  Roman  people.  They  per-suad-ed 
another  tribe  of  bold  war-riors  to  help  them,  and 
then  marched  toward  the  city,  plun-der-ing  and 
robbing  as  they  came.  They  boasted  that  they 
would  tear  down  the  walls  of  Rome,  and  burn  the 
houses,  and  kill  all  the  men,  and  make  slaves  of 
the  women  and  children. 

At  first  the  Romans,  who  were  very  proud  and 
brave,  did  not  think  there  was  much  danger. 
Every  man  in  Rome  was  a  soldier,  and  the  army 
which  went  out  to  fight  the  robbers  was  the  finest 
in  the  world.  No  one  staid  at  home  with  the 
women  and  children  and  boys  but  the  white-haired 
"  Fathers,"  as  they  were  called,  who  made  the  laws 
for   the    city,   and   a  small   company  of   men  who 


78 

guarded  the  walls.  Everybody  thought  that  it 
would  be  an  easy  thing  to  drive  the  men  of  the 
mountains  back  to  the  place  where  they  belonged. 

But  one  morning  five  horsemen  came  riding 
down  the  road  from  the  mountains.  They  rode 
with  great  speed ;  and  both  men  and  horses  were 
covered  with  dust  and  blood.  The  watchman  at 
the  gate  knew  them,  and  shouted  to  them  as  they 
gal-loped  in.  Why  did  they  ride  thus  ?  and  what 
had  happened  to  the  Roman  army? 

They  did  not  answer  him,  but  rode  into  the  city 
and  along  the  quiet  streets;  and  everybody  ran 
after  them,  eager  to  find  out  what  was  the  matter. 
Rome  was  not  a  large  city  at  that  time ;  and  soon 
they  reached  the  market  place  where  the  white- 
haired  Fathers  were  sitting.  Then  they  leaped 
from  their  horses,  and  told  their  story. 

"  Only  yes-ter-day,"  they  said,  "  our  army  was 
marching  through  a  narrow  valley  between  two 
steep  mountains.  All  at  once  a  thou-sand  sav- 
age men  sprang  out  from  among  the  rocks  before 
us  and  above  us.  They  had  blocked  up  the  way; 
and  the  pass  was  so  narrow  that  we  could  not 
fight.  We  tried  to  come  back;  but  they  had 
blocked  up  the  way  on  this  side  of  us  too.  The 
fierce  men  of  the  mountains  were  before  us  and 
behind   us,  and    they  were    throwing   rocks   down 


79 

upon  us  from  above.  We  had  been  caught  in  a 
trap.  Then  ten  of  us  set  spurs  to  our  horses;  and 
five  of  us  forced  our  way  through,  but  the  other 
five  fell  before  the  spears  of  the  mountain  men. 
And  now,  O  Roman  Fathers!  send  help  to  our 
army  at  once,  or  every  man  will  be  slain,  and  our 
city  will  be  taken." 

"  What  shall  we  do  ? "  said  the  white-haired 
Fathers.  "  Whom  can  we  send  but  the  guards 
and  the  boys  ?  and  who  is  wise  enough  to  lead 
them,  and  thus  save  Rome  ? '' 

All  shook  their  heads  and  were  very  grave ;  for 
it  seemed  as  if  there  was  no  hope.  Then  one  said, 
"  Send  for  Cincinnatus.     He  will  help  us." 

Cincinnatus  was  in  the  field  plowing  when  the 
men  who  had  been  sent  to  him  came  in  great  haste. 
He  stopped  and  greeted  them  kindly,  and  waited 
for  them  to  speak. 

"  Put  on  your  cloak,  Cincinnatus,"  they  said, 
"  and  hear  the  words  of  the  Roman  people." 

Then  Cincinnatus  wondered  what  they  could 
mean.  "  Is  all  well  with  Rome  ?  "  he  asked ;  and 
he  called  to  his  wife  to  bring  him  his  cloak. 

She  brought  the  cloak;  and  Cincinnatus  wiped 
the  dust  from  his  hands  and  arms,  and  threw  it  over 
his  shoulders.     Then  the  men  told  their  errand. 

They  told  him  how  the  army  with  all  the  noblest 


8o 

men  of  Rome  had  been  en-trapped  in  the  mountain 
pass.     They  told  him  about  the  great  danger  the 


city  was  in.     Then  they  said,  ''  The  people  of  Rome* 
make  you  their  ruler  and  the  ruler  of  their  city,  to 
do  with  everything  as  you  choose ;  and  the  Fathers 


8i 

bid  you  come  at  once  and  go  out  against  our  ene- 
mies, the  fierce  men  of  the  mountains." 

So  Cincinnatus  left  his  plow  standing  where  it 
was,  and  hurried  to  the  city.  When  he  passed 
through  the  streets,  and  gave  orders  as  to  what 
should  be  done,  some  of  the  people  were  afraid,  for 
they  knew  that  he  had  all  power  in  Rome  to  do 
what  he  pleased.  But  he  armed  the  guards  and 
the  boys,  and  went  out  at  their  head  to  fight  the 
fierce  mountain  men,  and  free  the  Roman  army 
from  the  trap  into  which  it  had  fallen. 

A  few  days  afterward  there  was  great  joy  in 
Rome.  There  was  good  news  from  Cincinnatus. 
The  men  of  the  mountains  had  been  beaten  with 
great  loss.  They  had  been  driven  back  into  their 
own  place. 

And  now  the  Roman  army,  with  the  boys  and 
the  guards,  was  coming  home  with  banners  flying, 
and  shouts  of  vic-to-ry;  and  at  their  head  rode 
Cincinnatus.     He  had  saved  Rome. 

Cincinnatus  might  then  have  made  himself  king; 
for  his  word  was  law,  and  no  man  dared  lift  a  finger 
against  him.  But,  before  the  people  could  thank 
him  enough  for  what  he  had  done,  he  gave  back 
the  power  to  the  white-haired  Roman  Fathers,  and 
went  again  to  his  little  farm  and  his  plow. 

He  had  been  the  ruler  of  Rome  for  sixteen  days. 

FIFTY   FAM.   STO.  —  6 


82 


THE   STORY   OF   REGULUS. 

On  the  other  side  of  the  sea  from  Rome  there 
was  once  a  great  city  named  Car-thage.  The 
Roman  people  were  never  very  friendly  to  the  peo- 
ple of  Car-thage,  and  at  last  a  war  began  between 
them.  For  a  long  time  it  was  hard  to  tell  which 
would  prove  the  stronger.  First  the  Romans 
would  gain  a  battle,  and  then  the  men  of  Car- 
thage would  gain  a  battle ;  and  so  the  w^ar  went  on 
for  many  years. 

Among  the  Romans  there  was  a  brave  gen-er-al 
named  Reg'u-lus,  —  a  man  of  whom  it  was  said 
that  he  never  broke  his  word.  It  so  happened 
after  a  while,  that  Reg-u-lus  was  taken  pris-on-er 
and  carried  to  Carthage.  Ill  and  very  lonely,  he 
dreamed  of  his  wife  and  little  children  so  far 
away  beyond  the  sea;  and  he  had  but  little  hope 
of  ever  seeing  them  again.  He  loved  his  home 
dearly,  but  he  believed  that  his  first  duty  was  to 
his  country ;  and  so  he  had  left  all,  to  fight  in 
this  cruel  war. 

He  had  lost  a  battle,  it  is  true,  and  had  been 
taken  prisoner.  Yet  he  knew  that  the  Romans 
were  gaining  ground,  and  the  people  of  Carthage 
were  afraid  of  being  beaten  in  the  end.  They  had 
sent  into  other  countries  to  hire  soldiers    to  help 


83 

them;  but  even  with  these  they  would  not  be  able 
to  fight  much  longer  against  Rome. 

One  day  some  of  the  rulers  of  Carthage  came  to 
the  prison  to  talk  with  Regulus. 

"  We  should  like  to  make  peace  with  the  Roman 
people,"  they  said,  "  and  we  are  sure,  that,  if  your 
rulers  at  home  knew  how  the  war  is  going,  they 
would  be  glad  to  make  peace  with  us.  We  will  set 
you  free  and  let  you  go  home,  if  you  will  agree  to 
do  as  we  say." 

"  What  is  that  ?  "  asked  Regulus. 

"  In  the  first  place,"  they  said,  "  you  must  tell 
the  Romans  about  the  battles  which  you  have 
lost,  and  you  must  make  it  plain  to  them  that 
they  have  not  gained  any-thing  by  the  war.  In 
the  second  place,  you  must  promise  us,  that,  if 
they  will  not  make  peace,  you  will  come  back  to 
your  prison." 

*' Very  well,"  said  Regulus,  "  I  promise  you,  that, 
if  they  will  not  make  peace,  I  will  come  back  to 
prison." 

And  so  they  let  him  go;  for  they  knew  that  a 
great  Roman  would  keep  his  word. 

When  he  came  to  Rome,  all  the  people  greeted 
him  gladly.  His  wife  and  children  were  very 
happy,  for  they  thought  that  now  they  would  not 
be  parted  again.     The  white-haired    Fathers  who 


84 

made  the  laws  for  the  city  came  to  see  him. 
They  asked  him  about  the  war. 

"  I  was  sent  from  Carthage  to  ask  you  to  make 
peace,"  he  said.  "  But  it  will  not  be  wise  to  make 
peace.  True,  we  have  been  beaten  in  a  few  battles, 
but  our  army  is  gaining  ground  every  day.  The 
people  of  Carthage  are  afraid,  and  well  they  may 
be.  Keep  on  with  the  war  a  little  while  longer, 
and  Carthage  shall  be  yours.  As  for  me,  I  have 
come  to  bid  my  wife  and  children  and  Rome  fare- 
well. To-morrow  I  will  start  back  to  Carthage  and 
to  prison ;  for  I  have  promised." 

Then  the  Fathers  tried  to  persuade  him  to  stay.   ^ 

*'  Let  us  send  another  man  in  your  place,"  they 
said. 

"  Shall  a  Roman  not  keep  his  word  ? "  answered 
Regulus.  "  I  am  ill,  and  at  the  best  have  not  long 
to  live.     I  will  go  back,  as  I  promised." 

His  wife  and  little  children  wept,  and  his  sons 
begged  him  not  to  leave  them  again. 

"  I  have  given  my  word,"  said  Regulus.  "  The 
rest  will  be  taken  care  of." 

Then  he  bade  them  good-by,  and  went  bravely 
back  to  the  prison  and  the  cruel  death  which  he 
ex-pect-ed. 

This  was  the  kind  of  courage  that  made  Rome 
the  greatest  city  in  the  world. 


85 


CORNELIANS  JEWELS. 

It  was  a  bright  morning  in  the  old  city  of  Rome 
many  hundred  years  ago.  In  a  vine-covered  sum- 
mer-house in  a  beautiful  garden,  two  boys  were 
standing.  They  were  looking  at  their  mother  and 
her  friend,  who  were  walking  among  the  flowers 
and  trees. 

"  Did  you  ever  see  so  handsome  a  lady  as  our 
mother's  friend  ? "  asked  the  younger  boy,  holding 
his  tall  brother  s  hand.     "  She  looks  like  a  queen." 

"Yet  she  is  not  so  beautiful  as  our  mother,"  said 
the  elder  boy.  "  She  has  a  fine  dress,  it  is  true ;  but 
her  face  is  not  noble  and  kind.  It  is  our  mother 
who  is  like  a  queen." 

"  That  is  true,"  said  the  other.  "  There  is  no 
woman  in  Rome  so  much  like  a  queen  as  our  own 
dear  mother." 

Soon  Cor-neli-a,  their  mother,  came  down  the 
walk  to  speak  with  them.  She  was  simply  dressed 
in  a  plain  white  robe.  Her  arms  and  feet  were 
bare,  as  was  the  custom  in  those  days;  and  no 
rings  nor  chains  glit-tered  about  her  hands  and 
neck.  For  her  only  crown,  long  braids  of  soft 
brown  hair  were  coiled  about  her  head ;  and  a 
tender  smile  lit  up  her  noble  face  as  she  looked 
into  her  sons'  proud  eyes. 


86 

''  Boys,"  she  said,  "  I  have  something  to  tell 
you." 

They  bowed  before  her,  as  Roman  lads  were 
taught  to  do,  and  said,  "  What  is  it,  mother  ? " 

"  You  are  to  dine  with  us  to-day,  here  in  the  gar- 
den; and  then  our  friend  is  going  to  show  us  that 
wonderful  casket  of  jewels  of  which  you  have  heard 
so  much." 

The  brothers  looked  shyly  at  their  mothers 
friend.  Was  it  possible  that  she  had  still  other 
rings  besides  those  on  her  fingers  ?  Could  she 
have  other  gems  besides  those  which  sparkled  Iq 
the  chains  about  her  neck  ? 

When  the  simple  out-door  meal  was  over,  a  serv- 
ant brought  the  casket  from  the  house.  The  lady 
opened  it.  Ah,  how  those  jewels  dazzled  the  eyes 
of  the  wondering  boys !  There  were  ropes  of  pearls, 
white  as  milk,  and  smooth  as  satin ;  heaps  of  shining 
rubies,  red  as  the  glowing  coals ;  sap-phires  as  blue 
as  the  sky  that  summer  day ;  and  di-a-monds  that 
flashed  and  sparkled  like  the  sunlight. 

The  brothers  looked  long  at  the  gems. 

"  Ah  ! "  whis-pered  the  younger;  "if  our  mother 
could  only  have  such  beautiful  things ! '' 

At  last,  how-ever,  the  casket  was  closed  and 
carried  care-ful-ly  away. 

"  Is  it  true,  Cor-ne-li-a,  that  you  have  no  jewels  .^^ ' 


87 

asked  her  friend.  "  Is  it  true,  as  I  have  heard  it 
whis-pered,  that  you  are  poor  ?  " 

"  No,  I  am  not  poor,"  answered  Cornelia,  and  as 
she  spoke  she  drew  her  two  boys  to  her  side ;  "  for 
here  are  my  jewels.  They  are  worth  more  than  all 
your  gems." 

I  am  sure  that  the  boys  never  forgot  their 
mother's  pride  and  love  and  care ;  and  in  after 
years,  when  they  had  become  great  men  in  Rome, 
they  often  thought  of  this  scene  in  the  garden. 
And  the  world  still  likes  to  hear  the  story  of  Cor- 
nelia's jewels. 


ANDROCLUS   AND  THE   LION. 

In  Rome  there  was  once  a  poor  slave  whose 
name  was  An'dro-clus.  His  master  was  a  cruel 
man,  and  so  unkind  to  him  that  at  last  An-dro-clus 
ran  away. 

He  hid  himself  in  a  wild  wood  for  many  days ; 
but  there  was  no  food  to  be  found,  and  he  grew  so 
weak  and  sick  that  he  thought  he  should  die.  So 
one  day  he  crept  into  a  cave  and  lay  down,  and 
soon  he  was  fast  asleep. 

After  a  while  a  great  noise  woke  him  up.  A  lion 
had  come  into  the  cave,  and  was  roaring  loudly. 


88 

Androclus  was  very  much  afraid,  for  he  felt  sure 
that  the  beast  would  kill  him.  Soon,  however,  he 
saw  that  the  lion  was  not  angry,  but  that  he  limped 
as  though  his  foot  hurt  him. 

Then  Androclus  grew  so  bold  that  he  took  hold 
of  the  lion's  lame  paw  to  see  what  was  the  matter. 
The  lion  stood  quite  still,  and  rubbed  his  head 
against  the  man's  shoulder.     He  seemed  to  say,  — 

"  I  know  that  you  will  help  me." 

Androclus  lifted  the  paw  from  the  ground,  and 
saw  that  it  was  a  long,  sharp  thorn  which  hurt  the 
lion  so  much.  He  took  the  end  of  the  thorn  in^ 
his  fingers ;  then  he  gave  a  strong,  quick  pull,  and 
out  it  came.  The  lion  was  full  of  joy.  He  jumped 
about  like  a  dog,  and  licked  the  hands  and  feet  of 
his  new  friend. 

Androclus  was  not  at  all  afraid  after  this;  and 
when  night  came,  he  and  the  lion  lay  down  and 
slept  side  by  side. 

For  a  long  time,  the  lion  brought  food  to  An- 
droclus every  day ;  and  the  two  became  such  good 
friends,  that  Androclus  found  his  new  life  a  very 
happy  one. 

One  day  some  soldiers  who  were  passing 
through  the  wood  found  Androclus  in  the  cave. 
They  knew  who  he  was,  and  so  took  him  back  to 
Rome. 


89 

It  was  the  law  at  that  time  that  every  slave 
who  ran  away  from  his  master  should  be  made 
to  fight  a  hungry  lion.  So  a  fierce  lion  was  shut 
up  for  a  while  without  food,  and  a  time  was  set 
for  the  fight. 

When  the  day  came,  thousands  of  people 
crowded  to  see  the  sport.  They  went  to  such 
places  at  that  time  very  much  as  people  now-a-days 
go  to  see  a  circus  show  or  a  game  of  base-ball. 

The  door  opened,  and  poor  Androclus  was 
brought  in.  He  was  almost  dead  with  fear,  for  the 
roars  of  the  lion  could  al-read-y  be  heard.  He 
looked  up,  and  saw  that  there  was  no  pity  in  the 
thou-sands  of  faces  around  him. 

Then  the  hungry  lion  rushed  in.  With  a  single 
bound  he  reached  the  poor  slave.  Androclus  gave 
a  great  cry,  not  of  fear,  but  of  gladness.  It  was  his 
old  friend,  the  lion  of  the  cave. 

The  people,  who  had  ex-pect-ed  to  see  the  man 
killed  by  the  lion,  were  filled  with  wonder.  They 
saw  Androclus  put  his  arms  around  the  lion's  neck ; 
they  saw  the  lion  lie  down  at  his  feet,  and  lick  them 
lov-ing-ly;  they  saw  the  great  beast  rub  his  head 
against  the  slave's  face  as  though  he  wanted  to  be 
petted.  They  could  not  un-der-stand  what  it  all 
meant. 

After  a  while  they  asked  Androclus  to  tell  them 


T'^'^^St^fkii 


Androclus  and  the  Lion. 


91 

about  it.  So  he  stood  up  before  them,  and,  with 
his  arm  around  the  lion's  neck,  told  how  he  and 
the  beast  had  lived  together  in  the  cave. 

"  I  am  a  man,"  he  said ;  "  but  no  man  has  ever 
befriended  me.  This  poor  lion  alone  has  been  kind 
to  me ;  and  we  love  each  other  as  brothers." 

The  people  were  not  so  bad  that  they  could  be 
cruel  to  the  poor  slave  now.  "  Live  and  be  free  ! " 
they  cried.     "  Live  and  be  free !  " 

Others  cried,  "  Let  the  lion  go  free  too !  Give 
both  of  them  their  liberty!" 

And  so  Androclus  was  set  free,  and  the  lion  was 
given  to  him  for  his  own.  And  they  lived  together 
in  Rome  for  many  years. 


HORATIUS   AT  THE   BRIDGE. 

Once  there  was  a  war  between  the  Roman  people 
and  the  E-trus'cans  who  lived  in  the  towns  on  the 
other  side  of  the  Ti-ber  River.  Por'se-na,  the  King 
of  the  E-trus-cans,  raised  a  great  army,  and  marched 
toward  Rome.  The  city  had  never  been  in  so  great 
danger. 

The  Romans  did  not  have  very  many  fighting 
men  at  that  time,  and  they  knew  that  they  were 
not  strong  enough  to  meet  the  Etruscans  in  open 


92 

battle.  So  they  kept  themselves  inside  of  their 
walls,  and  set  guards  to  watch  the  roads. 

One  morning  the  army  of  Por-se-na  was  seen 
coming  over  the  hills  from  the  north.  There  were 
thousands  of  horsemen  and  footmen,  and  they  were 
marching  straight  toward  the  wooden  bridge  which 
spanned  the  river  at  Rome. 

"  What  shall  we  do } "  said  the  white-haired 
Fathers  who  made  the  laws  for  the  Roman  peo- 
ple. "  If  they  once  gain  the  bridge,  we  cannot 
hinder  them  from  crossing ;  and  then  what  hope 
will  there  be  for  the  town.f^" 

Now,  among  the  guards  at  the  bridge,  there  was 
a  brave  man  named  Ho-ra'ti-us.  He  was  on  the 
farther  side  of  the  river,  and  when  he  saw  that 
the  Etruscans  were  so  near,  he  called  out  to  the 
Romans  who  were  behind  him. 

"  Hew  down  the  bridge  with  all  the  speed  that 
you  can ! "  he  cried.  "  I,  with  the  two  men  who 
stand  by  me,  will  keep  the  foe  at  bay." 

Then,  with  their  shields  before  them,  and  their 
long  spears  in  their  hands,  the  three  brave  men 
stood  in  the  road,  and  kept  back  the  horsemen 
whom  Porsena  had  sent  to  take  the  bridge. 

On  the  bridge  the  Romans  hewed  away  at  the 
beams  and  posts.  Their  axes  rang,  the  chips  flew 
fast ;  and  soon  it  trembled,  and  was  ready  to  fall. 


93 

"Come  back!  come  back,  and  save  your  lives!" 
they  cried  to  Ho-ra-ti-us  and  the  two  who  were  with 
him. 

But  just  then  Porsena's  horsemen  dashed  toward 
them  again. 

"  Run  for  your  Hves!"  said  Horatius  to  his  friends. 
"  I  will  keep  the  road." 

They  turned,  and  ran  back  across  the  bridge. 
They  had  hardly  reached  the  other  side  when  there 
was  a  crashing  of  beams  and  timbers.  The  bridge 
toppled  over  to  one  side,  and  then  fell  with  a  great 
splash  into  the  water. 

When  Horatius  heard  the  sound,  he  knew  that 
the  city  was  safe.  With  his  face  still  toward 
Porsena's  men,  he  moved  slowly  back-ward  till  he 
stood  on  the  river's  bank.  A  dart  thrown  by  one 
of  Porsena's  soldiers  put  out  his  left  eye;  but  he 
did  not  falter.  He  cast  his  spear  at  the  fore-most 
horseman,  and  then  he  turned  quickly  around.  He 
saw  the  white  porch  of  his  own  home  among  the 
trees  on  the  other  side  of  the  stream ; 

"  And  he  spake  to  the  noble  river 

That  rolls  by  the  walls  of  Rome : 

*  O  Tiber  !  father  Tiber  ! 

To  whom  the  Romans  pray, 

A  Roman's  life,  a  Roman's  arms, 
Take  thou  in  charge  to-day.*  " 


94 

He  leaped  into  the  deep,  swift  stream.  He  still 
had  his  heavy  armor  on ;  and  when  he  sank  out  of 
sight,  no  one  thought  that  he  would  ever  be  seen 
again.  But  he  was  a  strong  man,  and  the  best 
swimmer  in  Rome.  The  next  minute  he  rose.  He 
was  half-way  across  the  river,  and  safe  from  the 
spears  and  darts  which  Porsena's  soldiers  hurled 
after  him. 

Soon  he  reached  the  farther  side,  where  his 
friends  stood  ready  to  help  him.  Shout  after  shout 
greeted  him  as  he  climbed  upon  the  bank.  (Then 
Porsena's  men  shouted  also,  for  they  had  never  seen 
a  man  so  brave  and  strong  as  Horatius.  He  had 
kept  them  out  of  Rome,  but  he  had  done  a  deed 
which  they  could  not  help  but  praise. 

As  for  the  Romans,  they  were  very  grateful  to 
Horatius  for  having  saved  their  city.  They  called 
him  Horatius  Co'cles,  which  meant  the  "one-eyed 
Horatius,"  because  he  had  lost  an  eye  in  defending 
the  bridge;  they  caused  a  fine  statue  of  brass  to 
be  made  in  his  honor ;  and  they  gave  him  as  much 
land  as  he  could  plow  around  in  a  day.  And  for 
hundreds  of  years  afterwards  — 

"  With  weeping  and  with  laugh-ter, 
Still  was  the  story  told, 
How  well  Horatius  kept  the  bridge 
In  the  brave  days  of  old." 


95 


JULIUS   C^SAR. 

Nearly  two  thousand  years  ago  there  lived  in 
Rome  a  man  whose  name  was  Julius  Cae'sar.  He 
was  the  greatest  of  all  the  Romans. 

Why  was  he  so  great  ? 

He  was  a  brave  warrior,  and  had  con-quered 
many  countries  for  Rome.  He  was  wise  in  plan- 
ning and  in  doing.  He  knew  how  to  make  men 
both  love  and  fear  him. 

At  last  he  made  himself  the  ruler  of  Rome. 
Some  said  that  he  wished  to  become  its  king. 
But  the  Romans  at  that  time  did  not  believe  in 
kings. 

Once  when  Cae-sar  was  passing  through  a  little 
country  village,  all  the  men,  women,  and  children  of 
the  place,  came  out  to  see  him.  There  were  not 
more  than  fifty  of  them,  all  together,  and  they  were 
led  by  their  may-or,  who  told  each  one  what  to  do. 

These  simple  people  stood  by  the  roadside  and 
watched  Caesar  pass.  The  may-or  looked  very 
proud  and  happy ;  for  was  he  not  the  ruler  of  this 
village  ?  He  felt  that  he  was  almost  as  great  a  man 
as  Caesar  himself. 

Some  of  the  fine  of-fi-cers  who  were  with  Caesar 
laughed.  They  said,  "  See  how  that  fellow  struts  at 
the  head  of  his  little  flock !  " 


96 

"  Laugh  as  you  will,"  said  Caesar,  "  he  has  reason 
to  be  proud.  I  would  rather  be  the  head  man  of  a 
village  than  the  second  man  in  Rome ! " 

At  an-oth-er  time,  Caesar  was  crossing  a  narrow 
sea  in  a  boat.  Before  he  was  halfway  to  the  farther 
shore,  a  storm  overtook  him.  The  wind  blew  hard ; 
the  waves  dashed  high;  the  lightning  flashed;  the 
thunder  rolled. 

It  seemed  every  minute  as  though  the  boat  would 
sink.  The  captain  was  in  great  fright.  He  had 
crossed  the  sea  many  times,  but  never  in  such  a 
storm  as  this.  He  trembled  with  fear;  he  could 
not  guide  the  boat;  he  fell  down  upon  his  knees; 
he  moaned,  "  All  is  lost !  all  is  lost !  " 

But  Caesar  was  not  afraid.  He  bade  the  man  get 
up  and  take  his  oars  again. 

"  Why  should  you  be  afraid  ?  "  he  said.  "  The 
boat  will  not  be  lost;  for  you  have  Caesar  on 
board." 

THE  SWORD  OF  DAMOCLES. 

There  was  once  a  king  whose  name  was  Di-o- 
nys'i-us.  He  was  so  unjust  and  cruel  that  he  won 
for  himself  the  name  of  tyrant.  He  knew  that 
almost  everybody  hated  him,  and  so  he  was  always 
in  dread  lest  some  one  should  take  his  life. 


97 

But  he  was  very  rich,  and  he  lived  in  a  fine 
palace  where  there  were  many  beautiful  and  costly 
things,  and  he  was  waited  upon  by  a  host  of  serv- 
ants who  were  always  ready  to  do  his  bidding. 
One  day  a  friend  of  his,  whose  name  was  Dam^o- 
cles,  said  to  him,  — 

"  How  happy  you  must  be !  You  have  here 
everything  that  any  man  could  wish." 

"  Perhaps  you  would  like  to  change  places  with 
me,"  said  the  tyrant 

"No,  not  that,  O  king!"  said  Dam-o-cles;  "but 
I  think,  that,  if  I  could  only  have  your  riches  and 
your  pleas-ures  for  one  day,  I  should  not  want  any 
greater  hap-pi-ness." 

"Very  well,"  said  the  tyrant.  "You  shall  have 
them." 

And  so,  the  next  day,  Damocles  was  led  into  the 
palace,  and  all  the  servants  were  bidden  to  treat 
him  as  their  master.  He  sat  down  at  a  table  in  the 
banquet  hall,  and  rich  foods  were  placed  before  him. 
Nothing  was  wanting  that  could  give  him  pleasure. 
There  were  costly  wines,  and  beautiful  flowers,  and 
rare  perfumes,  and  de-light-ful  music.  He  rested 
himself  among  soft  cushions,  and  felt  that  he  was 
the  happiest  man  in  all  the  world. 

Then  he  chanced  to  raise  his  eyes  toward  the 
ceiling.     What  was  it  that  was  dangling  above  him. 

FIFTY   FAM.   STO. —  7 


lip! 


The  Sword  of  Damocles. 


99 

with  its  point  almost  touching  his  head?  It  was 
a  sharp  sword,  and  it  was  hung  by  only  a  single 
horse-hair.  What  if  the  hair  should  break  ?  There 
was  danger  every  moment  that  it  would  do  so. 

The  smile  faded  from  the  lips  of  Damocles.  His 
face  became  ashy  pale.  His  hands  trembled.  He 
wanted  no  more  food ;  he  could  drink  no  more 
wine ;  he  took  no  more  delight  in  the  music.  He 
longed  to  be  out  of  the  palace,  and  away,  he  cared 
not  where. 

"  What  is  the  matter  ? ''  said  the  tyrant. 

"  That  sword !  that  sword ! "  cried  Damocles.  He 
was  so  badly  frightened  that  he  dared  not  move. 

"  Yes,"  said  Di-o-nysi-us,  "  I  know  there  is  a  sword 
above  your  head,  and  that  it  may  fall  at  any  moment. 
But  why  should  that  trouble  you  ?  I  have  a  sword 
over  my  head  all  the  time.  I  am  every  moment 
in  dread  lest  something  may  cause  me  to  lose  my 
life." 

"  Let  me  go,"  said  Damocles.  "  I  now  see  that  I 
was  mis-tak-en,  and  that  the  rich  and  pow-er-ful  are 
not  so  happy  as  they  seem.  Let  me  go  back  to  my 
old  home  in  the  poor  little  cot-tage  among  the 
mountains." 

And  so  long  as  he  lived,  he  never  again  wanted 
to  be  rich,  or  to  change  places,  even  for  a  moment 
with  the  king. 


lOO 


DAMON   AND   PYTHIAS. 

A  YOUNG  man  whose  name  was  Pyth'i-as  had 
done  something  which  the  tyrant  Dionysius  did 
not  Hke.  For  this  offense  he  was  dragged  to 
prison,  and  a  day  was  set  when  he  should  be  put 
to  death.  His  home  was  far  away,  and  he  wanted 
very  much  to  see  his  father  and  mother  and  friends 
before  he  died. 

"  Only  give  me  leave  to  go  home  and  say  good-by 
to  those  whom  I  love,"  he  said,  "  and  then  I  will 
come  back  and  give  up  my  life." 

The  tyrant  laughed  at  him. 

"  How  can  I  know  that  you  will  keep  your  prom- 
ise? "  he  .said.  "You  only  want  to  cheat  me,  and 
save  your-self." 

Then  a  young  man  whose  name  was  Da-mon 
spoke  and  said,  — 

"  O  king !  put  me  in  prison  in  place  of  my  friend 
Pyth-i-as,  and  let  him  go  to  his  own  country  to  put 
his  affairs  in  order,  and  to  bid  his  friends  fare-well. 
I  know  that  he  will  come  back  as  he  promised,  for 
he  is  a  man  who  has  never  broken  his  word.  But 
if  he  is  not  here  on  the  day  which  you  have  set, 
then  I  will  (die  in  his  stead." 

The  tyrant  was  sur-prised  that  anybody  should 
make   such   an   offer.      He   at   last  agreed   to  let 


lOI 

Pythias  go,  and  gave  orders  that  the  young  man 
Da-mon  should  be  shut  up  in  prison. 

Time  passed,  and  by  and  by  the  day  drew  near 
which  had  been  set  for  Pythias  to  die;  and  he  had 
not  come  back.  The  tyrant  ordered  the  jailer  to 
keep  close  watch  upon  Damon,  and  not  let  him 
escape.  But  Damon  did  not  try  to  escape.  He 
still  had  faith  in  the  truth  and  honor  of  his  friend. 
He  said,  "If  Pythias  does  not  come  back  in  time, 
it  will  not  be  his  fault.  It  will  be  because  he  is 
hin-dered  against  his  will." 

At  last  the  day  came,  and  then  the  very  hour. 
Damon  was  ready  to  die.  His  trust  in  his  friend 
was  as  firm  as  ever;  and  he  said  that  he  did  not 
grieve  at  having  to  suffer  for  one  whom  he  loved 
so  much. 

Then  the  jailer  came  to  lead  him  to  his  death; 
but  at  the  same  moment  Pythias  stood  in  the  door. 
He  had  been  de-layed  by  storms  and  ship-wreck, 
and  he  had  feared  that  he  was  too  late.  He  greeted 
Damon  kindly,  and  then  gave  himself  into  the  hands 
of  the  jailer.  He  was  happy  because  he  thought 
that  he  had  come  in  time,  even  though  it  was  at 
the  last  moment. 

The  tyrant  was  not  so  bad  but  that  he  could  see 
good  in  others.  He  felt  that  men  who  loved 
and  trusted  each  other,  as  did  Damon  and  Pythias, 


102 


ought  not  to  suffer  un-just-ly.     And  so  he  set  them 
both  free. 

"  I  would  give  all  my  wealth  to  have  one  such 
friend,"  he  said. 


A   LACONIC  ANSWER. 
f 

Many  miles  beyond  Rome  there  was  a  famous 
country  which  we  call  Greece.  The  people  of 
Greece  were  not  u-nit-ed  like  the  Romans ;  but  in- 
stead there  were  sev-er-al  states,  each  of  which  had 
its  own  rulers. 

Some  of  the  people  in  the  southern  part  of  the 
country  were  called  Spar-tans,  and  they  were  noted 
for  their  simple  habits  and  their  brav-er-y.  The 
name  of  their  land  was  La-co'ni-a,  and  so  they 
were  sometimes  called  La-cons. 

One  of  the  strange  rules  which  the  Spartans  had, 
was  that  they  should  speak  briefly,  and  never  use 
more  words  than  were  needed.  And  so  a  short 
answer  is  often  spoken  of  as  being  la-con-ic ;  that 
is,  as  being  such  an  answer  as  a  Lacon  would  be 
likely  to  give. 

There  was  in  the  northern  part  of  Greece  a  land 
called  Mac'e-don;  and  this  land  was  at  one  time 
ruled  over  by  a  war-like  king  named  Philip. 


I03 

Philip  of  Mac-e-don  wanted  to  become  the  master 
of  all  Greece.  So  he  raised  a  great  army,  and  made 
war  upon  the  other  states,  until  nearly  all  of  them 
were  forced  to  call  him  their  king.  Then  he  sent  a 
letter  to  the  Spartans  in  La-co-ni-a,  and  said, "  If  I 
go  down  into  your  country,  I  will  level  your  great 
city  to  the  ground." 

In  a  few  days,  an  answer  was  brought  back  to 
himo  When  he  opened  the  letter,  he  found  only 
one  word  written  there. 

That  word  was  "  if." 

It  was  as  much  as  to  say,  ''We  are  not  afraid  of 
you  so  long  as  the  little  word  'if  stands  in  your 
way," 

THE   UNGRATEFUL   GUEST. 

Among  the  soldiers  of  King  Philip  there  was  a 
poor  man  who  had  done  some  brave  deeds.  He 
had  pleased  the  king  in  more  ways  than  one,  and 
so  the  king  put  a  good  deal  of  trust  in  him. 

One  day  this  soldier  was  on  board  of  a  ship  at 
sea  when  a  great  storm  came  up.  The  winds  drove 
the  ship  upon  the  rocks,  and  it  was  wrecked.  The 
soldier  was  cast  half-drowned  upon  the  shore ;  and 
he  would  have  died  there,  had  it  not  been  for  the 
kind  care  of  a  farmer  who  lived  close  by. 


I04 


When   the   soldier  was  well 
enough  to  go  home,  he  thanked  the 
farmer  for  what  he  had  done,  and  prom- 
ised that  he  would  repay  him  for  his  kindness. 

But  he  did  not  mean  to  keep  his  promise.  He 
did  not  tell  King  Philip  about  the  man  who  had 
saved  his  life.     He  only  said  that  there  was  a  fine 


I05 

farm  by  the  seashore,  and  that  he  would  Hke  very 
much  to  have  it  for  his  own.  Would  the  king  give 
it  to  him? 

"  Who  owns  the  farm  now  ?  "  asked  Philip. 

"  Only  a  churlish  farmer,  who  has  never  done  any- 
thing for  his  country,"  said  the  soldier. 

"  Very  well,  then,"  said  Philip.  "  You  have  served 
me  for  a  long  time,  and  you  shall  have  your  wish. 
Go  and  take  the  farm  for  yourself." 

And  so  the  soldier  made  haste  to  drive  the  farmer 
from  his  house  and  home.  He  took  the  farm  for 
his  own. 

The  poor  farmer  was  stung  to  the  heart  by  such 
treat-ment.  He  went  boldly  to  the  king,  and  told 
the  whole  story  from  beginning  to  end.  King 
Philip  was  very  angry  when  he  learned  that  the 
man  whom  he  had  trusted  had  done  so  base  a 
deed.  He  sent  for  the  soldier  in  great  haste ;  and 
when  he  had  come,  he  caused  these  words  to  be 
burned  in  his  forehead :  — 

"the  ungrateful  guest." 

Thus  all  the  world  was  made  to  know  of  the 
mean  act  by  which  the  soldier  had  tried  to  en- 
rich himself;  and  from  that  day  until  he  died  all 
men  shunned  and  hated  him. 


io6 


ALEXANDER  AND  BUCEPHALUS, 

One  day  King  Philip  bought  a  fine  horse  called 
Bu-ceph'a-lus.  He  was  a  noble  an-i-mal,  and  the  king 
paid  a  very  high  price  for  him.  But  he  was  wild 
and  savage,  and  no  man  could  mount  him,  or  do 
anything  at  all  with  him. 

They  tried  to  whip  him,  but  that  only  made  him 
worse.  At  last  the  king  bade  his  servants  take  him 
away.  ^ 

"  It  is  a  pity  to  ruin  so  fine  a  horse  as  that,"  said 
Al-ex-an'der,  the  king  s  young  son.  "  Those  men 
do  not  know  how  to  treat  him.'' 

"  Perhaps  you  can  do  better  than  they,"  said  his 
father  scorn-ful-ly. 

"  I  know,"  said  Al-ex-an-der,  "  that,  if  you  would 
only  give  me  leave  to  try,  I  could  manage  this  horse 
better  than  any  one  else." 

"  And  if  you  fail  to  do  so,  what  then } "  asked 
Philip. 

"  I  will  pay  you  the  price  of  the  horse,"  said  the 
lad. 

While  everybody  was  laughing,  Alexander  ran 
up  to  Bu-ceph-a-lus,  and  turned  his  head  toward  the 
sun.  He  had  noticed  that  the  horse  was  afraid  of 
his  own  shadow. 

He  then  spoke  gently  to  the  horse,  and  patted 


107 

him  with  his  hand.  When  he  had  qui-et-ed  him 
a  little,  he  made  a  quick  spring,  and  leaped  upon 
the  horse's  back. 

Everybody  expected  to  see  the  boy  killed  out- 
right. But  he  kept  his  place,  and  let  the  horse  run 
as  fast  as  he  would.  By  and  by,  when  Bucephalus 
had  become  tired,  Alexander  reined  him  in,  and  rode 
back  to  the  place  where  his  father  was  standing. 

All  the  men  who  were  there  shouted  when  they 
saw  that  the  boy  had  proved  himself  to  be  the 
master  of  the  horse. 

He  leaped  to  the  ground,  and  his  father  ran  and 
kissed  him. 

"  My  son,"  said  the  king,  "  Macedon  is  too  small 
a  place  for  you.  You  must  seek  a  larger  kingdom 
that  will  be  worthy  of  you." 

After  that,  Alexander  and  Bucephalus  were  the 
best  of  friends.  They  were  said  to  be  always  to- 
gether, for  when  one  of  them  was  seen,  the  other 
was  sure  to  be  not  far  away.  But  the  horse  would 
never  allow  any  one  to  mount  him  but  his  master. 

Alexander  became  the  most  famous  king  and  war- 
rior that  was  ever  known ;  and  for  that  reason  he 
is  always  called  Alexander  the  Great.  Bucephalus 
carried  him  through  many  countries  and  in  many 
fierce  battles,  and  more  than  once  did  he  save  his 
master's  life. 


io8 


DIOGENES   THE   WISE   MAN. 

At  Cor-inth,  in  Greece,  there  lived  a  very  wise 
man  whose  name  was  Di-og'e-nes.  Men  came 
from  all  parts  of  the  land  to  see  him  and  hear 
him  talk. 

But  wise  as  he  was,  he  had  some  jvery  queer  ways. 
He  did  not  believe  that  any  man  ought  to  have 
more  things  than  he  re-al-ly  needed;  and  he  said 
that  no  man  needed  much.  And  so  he  did  not  live 
in  a  house,  but  slept  in  a  tub  or  barrel,  which  he 
rolled  about  from  place  to  place.  He  spent  his  days 
sitting  in  the  sun,  and  saying  wise  things  to  those 
who  were  around  him. 

At  noon  one  day,  Di-og-e-nes  was  seen  walking 
through  the  streets  with  a  lighted  lantern,  and  look- 
ing all  around  as  if  in  search  of  something. 

"  Why  do  you  carry  a  lantern  when  the  sun  is 
shining? "  some  one  said. 

"  I  am  looking  for  an  honest  man,"  answered 
Diogenes. 

When  Alexander  the  Great  went  to  Cor-inth,  all 
the  fore-most  men  in  the  city  came  out  to  see  him 
and  to  praise  him.  But  Diogenes  did  not  come  ; 
and  he  was  the  only  man  for  whose  o-pin-ions 
Alexander  cared. 

And  so,  since  the  wise  man  would  not  come  to 


o 


no 


see  the  king,  the  king  went  to  see  the  wise  man. 
He  found  Diogenes  in  an  out-of-the-way  place,  lying 
on  the  ground  by  his  tub.  He  was  en-joy-ing  the 
heat  and  the  light  of  the  sun. 

When  he  saw  the  king  and  a  great  many  people 
coming,  he  sat  up  and  looked  at  Alexander.  Alex- 
ander greeted  him  and  said,  — 

"  Diogenes,  I  have  heard  a  great  deal  about  your 
wisdom.     Is  there  anything  that  I  can  do  for  you  ?  " 

"  Yes,"  said  Diogenes.  *'  You  can  stand  a  little 
on  one  side,  so  as  not  to  keep  the  sunshine  from 
me." 

This  answer  was  so  dif-fer-ent  from  what  he 
expected,  that  the  king  was  much  sur-prised.  'But 
it  did  not  make  him  angry ;  it  only  made  him 
admire  the  strange  man  all  the  more.  When  he 
turned  to  ride  back,  he  said  to  his  officers,  — 

"  Say  what  you  will ;  if  I  were  not  Alexander, 
I  would  Hke  to  be  Diogenes." 


THE  BRAVE  THREE  HUNDRED. 

All  Greece  was  in  danger.  A  mighty  army,  led 
by  the  great  King  of  Persia,  had  come  from  the 
east.  It  was  marching  along  the  seashore,  and  in 
a  few  days  would  be  in  Greece.     The  great  king 


had  sent  mes-sen-gers  into  every  city  and  state, 
bidding  them  give  him  water  and  earth  in  token 
that  the  land  and  the  sea  were  his.  But  they 
said,  — 

"  No :  we  will  be  free." 

And  so  there  was  a  great  stir  through-out  all  the 
land.  The  men  armed  themselves,  and  made  haste 
to  go  out  and  drive  back  their  foe ;  and  the  women 
staid  at  home,  weeping  and  waiting,  and  trembling 
with  fear. 

There  was  only  one  way  by  which  the  Per-sian 
army  could  go  into  Greece  on  that  side,  and  that 
was  by  a  narrow  pass  between  the  mountains  and 
the  sea.  This  pass  was  guarded  by  Le-on'i-das,  the 
King  of  the  Spartans,  with  three  hundred  Spartan 
soldiers. 

Soon  the  Persian  soldiers  were  seen  coming. 
There  were  so  many  of  them  that  no  man  could 
count  them.  How  could  a  handful  of  men  hope  to 
stand  against  so  great  a  host  ? 

And  yet  Le-on-i-das  and  his  Spartans  held  their 
ground.  They  had  made  up  their  minds  to  die  at 
their  post.  Some  one  brought  them  word  that 
there  were  so  many  Persians  that  their  arrows 
dark-ened  the  sun. 

''So  much  the  better,"  said  the  Spartans,  '*  we 
shall  fight  in  the  shade." 


J  12 

Bravely  they  stood  in  the  narrow  pass.  Bravely 
they  faced  their  foes.  To  Spartans  there  was  no 
such  thing  as  fear.  The  Persians  came  forward, 
only  to  meet  death  at  the  points  of  their  spears. 

But  one  by  one  the  Spartans  fell.  At  last  their 
spears  were  broken;  yet  still  they  stood  side  by 
side,  fighting  to  the  last.  Some  fought  with  swords, 
some  with  daggers,  and  some  with  only  their  fists 
and  teeth. 

All  day  long  the  army  of  the  Persians  was  kept 
at  bay.  But  when  the  sun  went  down,  there  was 
not  one  Spartan  left  alive.  Where  they  had  stood 
there  was  only  a  heap  of  the  slain,  all  bristled  over 
with  spears  and  arrows. 

Twenty  thousand  Persian  soldiers  had  fallen 
before  that  handful  of  men.  And  Greece  was 
saved. 

Thousands  of  years  have  passed  since  then;  but 
men  still  like  to  tell  the  story  of  Leonidas  and  the 
brave  three  hundred  who  died  for  their  country's 
sake. 

SOCRATES   AND   HIS   HOUSE 

There  once  lived  in  Greece  a  very  wise  man 
whose  name  was  Soc'ra-tes.  Young  men  from  all 
parts  of  the  land  went  to  him  to  learn  wisdom  from 


113 

him ;  and  he  said  so  many  pleasant  thing^rand' said 
them  in  so  delightful  a  way,  that  no  one  ever  grew 
tired  of  listening  to  him. 

One  summer  he  built  himself  a  house,  but  it  was 
so  small  that  his  neighbors  wondered  how  he  could 
be  content  with  it. 

"  What  is  the  reason,"  said  they,  "  that  you,  who 
are  so  great  a  man,  should  build  such  a  little  box  as 
this  for  your  dwelling  house  ?  " 

"Indeed,  there  may  be  little  reason,"  said  he; 
"  but,  small  as  the  place  is,  I  shall  think  myself 
happy  if  I  can  fill  even  it  with  true  friends." 


THE   KING   AND   HIS    HAWK. 

Gen'ghis  Khan  was  a  great  king  and  war-rior. 

He  led  his  army  into  China  and  Persia,  and  he 
con-quered  many  lands.  .  In  every  country,  men 
told  about  his  daring  deeds;  and  they  said  that 
since  Alexander  the  Great  there  had  been  no  king 
like  him. 

One  morning  when  he  was  home  from  the  wars, 
he  rode  out  into  the  woods  to  have  a  day's  sport. 
Many  of  his  friends  were  with  him.  They  rode 
out  gayly,  carrying  their  bows  and  arrows.  Behind 
them  came  the  servants  with  the  hounds. 

FIFTY  FAM.   STO.  —  8 


114 

It  was  a  merry  hunting  party.  The  woods  rang 
with  their  shouts  and  laughter.  They  expected  to 
carry  much  game  home  in  the  evening. 

On  the  king's  wrist  sat  his  favorite  hawk ;  for  in 
those  days  hawks  were  trained  to  hunt.  At  a  word 
from  their  masters  they  would  fly  high  lip  into  the 
air,  and  look  around  for  prey.  If  they  chanced  to 
see  a  deer  or  a  rabbit,  they  would  swoop  down  upon 
it  swift  as  any  arrow. 

All  day  long  Gen-ghis  Khan  and  his  huntsmen 
rode  through  the  woods.  But  they  did  not  find  as 
much  game  as  they  expected. 

Toward  evening  they  started  for  home.  The 
king  had  often  ridden  through  the  woods,  and  he 
knew  all  the  paths.  So  while  the  rest  of  the  party 
took  the  nearest  way,  he  went  by  a  longer  road 
through  a  valley  between  two  mountains. 

The  day  had  been  warm,  and  the  king  was  very 
thirsty.  His  pet  hawk  had  left  his  wrist  and 
flown  away.  It  would  be  sure  to  find  its  way 
home. 

The  king  rode  slowly  along.  He  had  once  seen 
a  spring  of  clear  water  near  this  path-way.  If  he 
could  only  find  it  now !  But  the  hot  days  of  sum- 
mer had  dried  up  all  the  moun-tain  brooks. 

At  last,  to  his  joy,  he  saw  some  water  tric-kling 
down  over  the  edge  of  a  rock.     He  knew  that  there 


IIS 

v/as  a  spring  farther  up.  In  the  wet  season,  a  swift 
stream  of  water  always  poured  down  here;  but  now 
it  came  only  one  drop  at  a  time. 

The  king  leaped  from  his  horse.  He  took  a  little 
silver  cup  from  his  hunting  bag.  He  held  it  so  as 
to  catch  the  slowly  falling  drops. 

It  took  a  long  time  to  fill  the  cup ;  and  the  king 
was  so  thirsty  that  he  could  hardly  wait.  At  last  it 
was  nearly  full.  He  put  the  cup  to  his  lips,  and 
was  about  to  drink. 

All  at  once  there  was  a  whir-ring  sound  in  the 
air,  and  the  cup  was  knocked  from  his  hands.  The 
water  was  all  spilled  upon  the  ground. 

The  king  looked  up  to  see  who  had  done  this 
thing.     It  was  his  pet  hawk. 

The  hawk  flew  back  and  forth  a  few  times,  and 
then  alighted  among  the  rocks  by  the  spring. 

The  king  picked  up  the  cup,  and  again  held  it  to 
catch  the  tric-kling  drops. 

This  time  he  did  not  wait  so  long.  When  the 
cup  was  half  full,  he  lifted  it  toward  his  mouth. 
But  before  it  had  touched  his  lips,  the  hawk  swooped 
down  again,  and  knocked  it  from  his  hands. 

And  now  the  king  began  to  grow  angry.  He 
tried  again ;  and  for  the  third  time  the  hawk  kept 
him  from  drinking. 

The  king  was  now  very  angry  indeed. 


ii6 

"  How  do  you  dare  to  act  so  ?  "  he  cried.  "  If  I 
had  you  in  my  hands,  I  would  wring  your  neck ! " 

Then  he  filled  the  cup  again.  But  before  he 
tried  to  drink,  he  drew  his  sword. 

"  Now,  Sir  Hawk,"  he  said,  "  this  is  the  last 
time." 

He  had  hardly  spoken,  before  the  hawk  swooped 
down  and  knocked  the  cup  from,  his  hand.  But  the 
king  was  looking  for  this.  With  a  quick  sweep  of 
the  sword  he  struck  the  bird  as  it  passed. 

The  next  moment  the  poor  hawk  lay  bleeding  and 
dying  at  its  master's  feet. 

"  That  is  what  you  get  for  your  pains,"  said  Gen- 
ghis Khan. 

But  when  he  looked  for  his  cup,  he  found  that  it 
had  fallen  between  two  rocks,  where  he  could  not 
reach  it. 

"At  any  rate,  I  will  have  a  drink  from  that  spring," 
he  said  to  himself. 

With  that  he  began  to  climb  the  steep  bank  to 
the  place  from  which  the  water  trickled.  It  was 
hard  work,  and  the  higher  he  climbed,  the  thirst-i-er 
he  became. 

At  last  he  reached  the  place.  There  indeed  was 
a  pool  of  water ;  but  what  was  that  lying  in  the  pool, 
and  almost  filling  it  ?  It  was  a  huge,  dead  snake  of 
fBost  poi-son-ous  kind. 


117 


The  king  stopped.  He  forgot  his  thirst.  He 
thought  only  of  the  poor  dead  bird  lying  on  the 
ground  below  him. 


"  The  hawk  saved  my  life  !  "  he  cried  ;  "  and  how 
did  I  repay  him  ?  He  was  my  best  friend,  and  I 
have  killed  him." 


ii8 

He  clam-bered  down  the  bank.  He  took  the  bird 
up  gently,  and  laid  it  in  his  hunting  bag.  Then  he 
mounted  his  horse  and  rode  swiftly  home.  He  said 
to  himself, — 

"  I  have  learned  a  sad  lesson  to-day ;  and  that  is, 
never  to  do  any-thing  in  anger." 


DOCTOR   GOLDSMITH. 

There  was  once  a  kind  man  whose  name  was  Oli- 
ver Gold-smith.  He  wrote  many  de-light-ful  books, 
some  of  which  you  will  read  when  you  are  older. 

He  had  a  gentle  heart.  He  was  always  ready  to 
help  others  and  to  share  with  them  anything  that  he 
had.  He  gave  away  so  much  to  the  poor  that  he 
was  always  poor  himself. 

He  was  some-times  called  Doctor  Goldsmith ;  for 
he  had  studied  to  be  a  phy-si-cian. 

One  day  a  poor  woman  asked  Doctor  Goldsmith 
to  go  and  see  her  husband,  who  was  sick  and  could 
not  eat. 

Goldsmith  did  so.  He  found  that  the  family  was 
in  great  need.  The  man  had  not  had  work  for  a 
long  time.  He  was  not  sick,  but  in  distress ;  and, 
as  for  eating,  there  was  no  food  in  the  house. 

"  Call  at  my  room  this  evening,"  said  Goldsmith 


119 

to  the  woman,  "  and  I  will  give  you  some  med-i-cine 
for  your  husband." 

In  the  evening  the  woman  called.  Goldsmith 
gave  her  a  little  paper  box  that  was  very  heavy. 

"  Here  is  the  med-i-cine,"  he  said.  ''  Use  it  faith- 
ful-ly,  and  I  think  it  will  do  your  husband  a  great 
deal  of  good.  But  don't  open  the  box  until  you 
reach  home." 

"  What  are  the  di-rec-tions  for  taking  it.f^  "  asked 
the  woman. 

"  You  will  find  them  inside  of  the  box,"  he  an- 
swered. 

When  the  woman  reached  her  home,  she  sat 
down  by  her  husband's  side,  and  they  opened  the 
box.     What  do  you  think  they  found  in  it  ? 

It  was  full  of  pieces  of  money.  And  on  the  top 
were  the  di-rec-tions :  — 

"to  be  taken  as  often  as  ne-ces-si-ty  requires." 

Goldsmith  had  given  them  all  the  ready  money 
that  he  had. 

THE   KINGDOMS. 

There  was  once  a  king  of  Prussia  whose  name 
was  Frederick  William. 

On  a  fine  morning  in  June  he  went  out  alone  to 
walk   in   the  green  woods.     He   was   tired  of  the 


I20 

noise  of  the  city,  and  he  was  glad  to  get  away 
from  it. 

So,  as  he  walked  among  the  trees,  he  often  stopped 
to  listen  to  the  singing  birds,  or  to  look  at  the  wild 
flowers  that  grew  on  every  side.  Now  and  then  he 
stooped  to  pluck  a  violet,  or  a  primrose,  or  a  yellow 
but-ter-cup.  Soon  his  hands  were  full  of  pretty 
blossoms.  r 

After  a  while  he  came  to  a  little  meadow  in  the 
midst  of  the  wood.  Some  children  were  playing 
there.  They  were  running  here  and  there,  and 
gathering  the  cow-slips  that  were  blooming  among 
the  grass. 

It  made  the  king  glad  to  see  the  happy  children, 
and  hear  their  merry  voices.  He  stood  still  for 
some  time,  and  watched  them  as  they  played. 

Then  he  called  them  around  him,  and  all  sat 
down  to-geth-er  in  the  pleasant  shade.  The  chil- 
dren did  not  know  who  the  strange  gentleman 
was ;  but  they  liked  his  kind  face  and  gentle 
manners. 

"  Now,  my  little  folks,"  said  the  king,  "  I  want  to 
ask  you  some  ques-tions,  and  the  child  who  gives 
the  best  answer  shall  have  a  prize." 

Then  he  held  up  an  orange  so  that  all  the  chil- 
dren could  see. 

"  You  know  that  we  all  live  in  the  king-dom  of 


T2T 


Prussia/'  he  said ;  "  but  tell  me,  to  what  king-dom 
does  this  orange  belong?" 

The  children  were  puz-zled.     They  looked  at  one 


122 

another,  and  sat  very  still  for  a  little  whiko*  Then 
a  brave,  bright  boy  spoke  up  and  said,  — 

"  It  belongs  to  the  veg-e-ta-ble  kingdom,  sir." 

"  Why  so,  my  lad  ?  "  asked  the  king. 

"  It  is  the  fruit  of  a  plant,  and  all  plants  belong 
to  that  kingdom,"  said  the  boy. 

The  king  was  pleased.  "  You  are  quite  right," 
he  said;  "and  you  shall  have  the  orange  for  your 
prize." 

He  tossed  it  gayly  to  the  boy.  "  Catch  it  if  you 
can  ! "  he  said. 

Then  he  took  a  yellow  gold  piece  from  his  pocket, 
and  held  it  up  so  that  it  glit-tered  in  the  sunlight. 

"Now  to  what  kingdom  does  this  belong?"  he 
asked. 

Another  bright  boy  answered  quick-ly,  "  To  the 
min-er-al  kingdom,  sir !  All  metals  belong  to  that 
kingdom." 

"That  is  a  good  answer,"  said  the  king.  "The 
gold  piece  is  your  prize." 

The  children  were  de-light-ed.  With  eager  faces 
they  waited  to  hear  what  the  stranger  would  say 
next. 

"  I  will  ask  you  only  one  more  question,"  said  the 
king,  "  and  it  is  an  easy  one.''  Then  he  stood  up, 
and  said,  "  Tell  me,  my  little  folks,  to  what  kingdom 
do  I  belong  ?  " 


123 

The  bright  boys  were  puz-zled  now.  Some 
thought  of  saying,  "To  the  kingdom  of  Prussia." 
Some  wanted  to  say,  "  To  the  animal  kingdom." 
But  they  were  a  little  afraid,  and  all  kept  still. 

At  last  a  tiny  blue-eyed  child  looked  up  into  the 
king's  smiling  face,  and  said  in  her  simple  way,  — 

"  I  think  to  the  kingdom  of  heaven." 

King  Frederick  William  stooped  down  and  lifted 
the  little  maiden  in  his  arms.  Tears  were  in  his 
eyes  as  he  kissed  her,  and  said,  "So  be  it,  my 
child  1    So  be  it." 


THE  BARMECIDE   FEAST. 

There  was  once  a  rich  old  man  who  was  called 
the  Bar-me-cide.  He  lived  in  a  beautiful  palace  in 
the  midst  of  flowery  gardens.  He  had  every-thing 
that  heart  could  wish. 

In  the  same  land  there  was  a  poor  man  whose 
name  was  Schac-a-bac.  His  clothing  was  rags,  and 
his  food  was  the  scraps  which  other  people  had 
thrown  away.  But  he  had  a  light  heart,  and  was 
as  happy  as  a  king. 

Once  when  Schac-a-bac  had  not  had  anything  to 
eat  for  a  long  time,  he  thought  that  he  would  go 
and  ask  the  Bar-me-cide  to  help  him. 


124 

The  servant  at  the  door  said,  "  Come  in  and  talk 
with  our  master.  He  will  not  send  you  away  hun- 
gry-" 

Schacabac  went   in,  and    passed    through    many 

beautiful  rooms,  looking  for  the  Barmecide.  At 
last  he  came  to  a  grand  hall  where  there  were  soft 
carpets  on  the  floor,  ar(d  fine  pictures  on  the  walls, 
and  pleasant  couches  to  lie  down  upon. 

At  the  upper  end  of  the  room  he  saw  a  noble 
man  with  a  long  white  beard.  It  was  the  Barme- 
cide ;  and  poor  Schacabac  bowed  low  before  him, 
as  was  the  custom  in  that  country. 

The  Barmecide  spoke  very  kindly,  and  asked 
what  was  wanted. 

Schacabac  told  him  about  all  his  troubles,  and 
said  that  it  was  now  two  days  since  he  had  tasted 
bread. 

"  Is  it  possible  ?  "  said  the  Barmecide.  "  You 
must  be  almost  dead  with  hunger ;  and  here  I  have 
plenty  and  to  spare  !  " 

Then  he  turned  and  called,  "  Ho,  boy !  Bring  in 
the  water  to  wash  our  hands,  and  then  order  the 
cook  to  hurry  the  supper." 

Schacabac  had  not  expected  to  be  treated  so 
kindly.     He  began  to  thank  the  rich  man. 

"  Say  not  a  word,"  said  the  Barmecide,  ''  but  let 
us  get  ready  for  the  feast." 


125 

Then  the  rich  man  began  to  rub  his  hands  as 
though  some  one  was  pouring  water  on  them. 
"  Come  and  wash  with  me,"  he  said. 

Schacabac  saw  no  boy,  nor  basin,  nor  water. 
But  he  thought  that  he  ought  to  do  as  he  was 
bidden ;  and  so,  like  the  Barmecide,  he  made  a 
pretense  of  washing. 

"Come  now,"  said  the  Barmecide,  "let  us  have 
supper." 

He  sat  down,  as  if  to  a  table,  and  pre-tend-ed  to 
be  carving  a  roast.  Then  he  said,  "  Help  yourself, 
my  good  friend.  You  said  you  were  hungry:  so, 
now,  don't  be  afraid  of  the  food." 

Schacabac  thought  that  he  un-der-stood  the  joke, 
and  he  made  pretense  of  taking  food,  and  passing  it 
to  his  mouth.  Then  he  began  to  chew,  and  said, 
"  You  see,  sir,  I  lose  no  time." 

"  Boy,"  said  the  old  man,  "  bring  on  the  roast 
goose.  —  Now,  my  good  friend,  try  this  choice  piece 
from  the  breast.  And  here  are  sweet  sauce,  honey, 
raisins,  green  peas,  and  dry  figs.  Help  yourself, 
and  remember  that  other  good  things  are  coming." 

Schacabac  was  almost  dead  with  hunger,  but  he 
was  too  polite  not  to  do  as  he  was  bidden. 

''  Come,"  said  the  Barmecide,  "  have  another  piece 
of  the  roast  lamb.  Did  you  ever  eat  anything  so 
de-li-cious  ?  " 


126 

"  Never  in  my  life,"  said  Schacabac.  "  Your  table 
is  full  of  good  things." 

"  Then  eat  heartily,"  said  the  Barmecide.  "  You 
cannot  please  me  better." 

After  this  came  the  des-sert.  The  Barmecide 
spoke  of  sweet-meats  and  fruits ;  and  Schacabac 
made  believe  that  he  was  eating  them. 

"Now  is  there  anything  else  that  you  would 
like  ?  "  asked  the  host. 

"  Ah,  no  !  "  said  poor  Schacabac.  "  I  have  indeed 
had  great  plenty." 

"  Let  us  drink,  then,"  said  the  Barmecide.  "  Boy, 
bring  on  the  wine  !  " 

"  Excuse  me,  my  lord,"  said  Schacabac,  *'  I  will 
drink  no  wine,  for  it  is  for-bid-den." 

The  Barmecide  seized  him  by  the  hand.  "  I  have 
long  wished  to  find  a  man  like  you,"  he  said.  "  But 
come,  now  we  will  sup  in  earnest." 

He  clapped  his  hands.  Servants  came,  and  he 
ordered  supper.  Soon  they  sat  down  to  a  table 
loaded  with  the  very  dishes  of  which  they  had  pre- 
tend-ed  to  eat. 

Poor  Schacabac  had  never  had  so  good  a  meal  in 
all  his  life.  When  they  had  fin-ished,  and  the  table 
had  been  cleared  away,  the  Barmecide  said, — 

"  I  have  found  you  to  be  a  man  of  good  un-der- 
stand-ing.     Your  wits  are  quick,  and  you  are  ready 


127 

always  to  make  the  best  of  everything.     Come  and 
live  with  me,  and  manage  my  house." 

And  so  Schacabac  lived  with  the  Barmecide  many 
years,  and  never  again  knew  what  it  was  to  be 
hungry. 

THE   ENDLESS   TALE. 

In  the  Far  East  there  was  a  great  king  who  had 
no  work  to  do.  Every  day,  and  all  day  long,  he  sat 
on  soft  cush-ions  and  lis-tened  to  stories.  And  no 
matter  what  the  story  was  about,  he  never  grew 
tired  of  hearing  it,  even  though  it  was  very  long. 

"  There  is  only  one  fault  that  I  find  with  your 
story,"  he  often  said :  "  it  is  too  short." 

All  the  story-tellers  in  the  world  were  in-vit-ed  to 
his  palace ;  and  some  of  them  told  tales  that  were 
very  long  indeed.  But  the  king  was  always  sad 
when  a  story  was  ended. 

At  last  he  sent  word  into  every  city  and  town 
and  country  place,  offering  a  prize  to  any  one  who 
should  tell  him  an  endless  tale.     He  said, — 

"  To  the  man  that  will  tell  me  a  story  which  shall 
last  forever,  I  will  give  my  fairest  daugh-ter  for  his 
wife ;  and  I  will  make  him  my  heir,  and  he  shall  be 
king  after  me." 

But  this  was  not  all.     He  added  a  very  hard  con- 


128 

di-tion.  **  If  any  man  shall  try  to  tell  such  a  story 
and  then  fail,  he  shall  have  his  head  cut  off." 

The  king's  daughter  was  very  pretty,  and  there 
were  many  young  men  in  that  country  who  were 
willing  to  do  anything  to  win  her.  But  none  of 
them  wanted  to  lose  their  heads,  and  so  only  a  few 
tried  for  the  prize.  ^ 

One  young  man  invented  a  story  that  lasted  three 
months ;  but  at  the  end  of  that  time,  he  could  think 
of  nothing  more.  His  fate  was  a  warning  to  others, 
and  it  was  a  long  time  before  another  story-teller 
was  so  rash  as  to  try  the  king's  patience. 

But  one  day  a  stran-ger  from  the  South  came  into 
the  palace. 

''  Great  king,"  he  said,  "  is  it  true  that  you  offer  a 
prize  to  the  man  who  can  tell  a  story  that  has  no 
end  ? " 

"  It  is  true,"  said  the  king. 

"  And  shall  this  man  have  your  fairest  daughter 
for  his  wife,  and  shall  he  be  your  heir  ? " 

"  Yes,  if  he  suc-ceeds,"  said  the  king.  "  But  if  he 
fails,  he  shall  lose  his  head." 

"  Very  well,  then,"  said  the  stran-ger.  "  I  have  a 
pleasant  story  about  locusts  which  I  would  like  to 
relate.'' 

''  Tell  it,"  said  the  king.     "  I  will  listen  to  you." 

The  story-teller  began  his  tale. 


129 

"  Once  upon  a  time  a  certain  king  seized  upon 
all  the  corn  in  his  country,  and  stored  it  away  in  a 
strong  gran-a-ry.  But  a  swarm  of  locusts  came 
over  the  land  and  saw  where  the  grain  had  been 
put.  After  search-ing  for  many  days  they  found 
on  the  east  side  of  the  gran-a-ry  a  crev-ice  that  was 
just  large  enough  for  one  locust  to  pass  through  at 
a  time.  So  one  locust  went  in  and  carried  away  a 
grain  of  corn ;  then  another  locust  went  in  and  car- 
ried away  a  grain  of  corn ;  then  another  locust  went 
in  and  carried  away  a  grain  of  corn." 

Day  after  day,  week  after  week,  the  man  kept  on 
saying,  "  Then  another  locust  went  in  and  carried 
away  a  grain  of  corn." 

A  month  passed ;  a  year  passed.  At  the  end  of 
two  years,  the  king  said,  — 

"  How  much  longer  will  the  locusts  be  going  in 
and  carrying  away  corn  ?  " 

"  O  king ! "  said  the  story-teller,  "  they  have  as  yet 
cleared  only  one  cubit ;  and  there  are  many  thou- 
sand cubits  in  the  granary." 

"  Man,  man ! "  cried  the  king,  "  you  will  drive  me 
mad.  I  can  listen  to  it  no  longer.  Take  my 
daughter ;  be  my  heir ;  rule  my  kingdom.  But  do 
not  let  me  hear  another  word  about  those  horrible 
locusts ! " 

And    so    the    strange    story-teller    married    the 

FIFTY  FAM.   STO.  — 9 


/ 

(  ^3^  ) 

king's  daughter.  And  he  Hved  happily  in  the  land 
for  many  years.  But  his  father-in-law,  the  king, 
did  not  care  to  listen  to  any  more  stories. 


THE  BLIND  MEN  AND  THE  ELEPHANT. 

There  were  once  six  blind  men  who  stood  by  the 
road-side  every  day,  and  begged  from  the  people 
who  passed.  They  had  often  heard  of  el-e-phants, 
but  they  had  never  seen  onej  for,  being  blind, 
how  could  they } 

It  so  happened  one  morning  that  an  el-e-phant 
was  driven  down  the  road  where  they  stood. 
When  they  were  told  that  the  great  beast  was 
before  them,  they  asked  the  driver  to  let  him  stop 
so  that  they  might  see  him. 

Of  course  they  could  not  see  him  with  their  eyes ; 
but  they  thought  that  by  touching  him  they  could 
learn  just  what  kind  of  animal  he  was. 

The  first  one  happened  to  put  his  hand  on  the 
elephant's  side.  "  Well,  well ! "  he  said,  "  now  I  know 
all  about  this  beast.     He  is  ex-act-ly  like  a  wall." 

The  second  felt  only  of  the  elephant's  tusk.  "  My 
brother,"  he  said,  ''  you  are  mistaken.  He  is  not  at 
all  like  a  wall.  He  is  round  and  smooth  and  sharp. 
He  is  more  like  a  spear  than  anything  else." 


131 

The  third  happened  to  take  hold  of  the  elephant's, 
trunk.  "  Both  of  you  are  wrong,"  he  said.  "  Any- 
body who  knows  anything  can  see  that  this  elephant 
is  like  a  snake." 

The  fourth  reached  out  his  arms,  and  grasped 
one  of  the  elephant's  legs.  "  Oh,  how  blind  you 
are ! "  he  said.  "  It  is  very  plain  to  me  that  he  is 
round  and  tall  like  a  tree." 

The  fifth  was  a  very  tall  man,  and  he  chanced  to 
take  hold  of  the  elephant  s  ear.  "  The  blind-est  man 
ought  to  know  that  this  beast  is  not  like  any  of  the 
things  that  you  name,"  he  said.  "  He  is  ex-act-ly 
like  a  huge  fan." 

The  sixth  was  very  blind  indeed,  and  it  was  some 
time  before  he  could  find  the  elephant  at  all.  At 
last  he  seized  the  animals  tail.  "  O  foolish  fel- 
lows !  "  he  cried.  "  You  surely  have  lost  your  senses. 
This  elephant  is  not  like  a  wall,  or  a  spear,  or  a 
snake,  or  a  tree ;  neither  is  he  like  a  fan.  But  any 
man  with  a  par-ti-cle  of  sense  can  see  that  he  is  ex- 
actly like  a  rope." 

Then  the  elephant  moved  on,  and  the  six  blind 
men  sat  by  the  roadside  all  day,  and  quar-reled 
about  him.  Each  believed  that  he  knew  just  how 
the  animal  looked ;  and  each  called  the  others 
hard  names  because  they  did  not  agree  with  him. 
People  who  have  eyes  sometimes  act  as  foolishly. 


132 


MAXIMILIAN   AND   THE   GOOSE   BOY. 

One  summer  day  King  Max-i-mirian  of  Ba-va'ri  a 
was  walking  in  the  country.  The  sun  shone  hot, 
and  he  stopped  under  a  tree  to  rest. 

It  was  very  pleasant  in  the  cool  shade.  The 
king  lay  down  on  the  soft  grass,  and  looked  up 
at  the  white  clouds  sailing  across  the  sky.  Then 
he  took  a  little  book  from  his  pocket  and  tried  to 
read. 

But  the  king  could  not  keep  his  mind  on  his  book. 
Soon  his  eyes  closed,  and  he  was  fast  asleep. 

It  was  past  noon  when  he  awoke.  He  got  up 
from  his  grassy  bed,  and  looked  around.  Then  he 
took  his  cane  in  his  hand,  and  started  for  home. 

When  he  had  walked  a  mile  or  more,  he  happened 
to  think  of  his  book.  He  felt  for  it  in  his  pocket. 
It  was  not  there.     He  had  left  it  under  the  tree. 

The  king  was  already  quite  tired,  and  he  did  not 
like  to  walk  back  so  far.  But  he  did  not  wish  to 
lose  the  book.     What  should  he  do  ? 

If  there  was  only  some  one  to  send  for  it ! 

While  he  was  thinking,  he  happened  to  see  a 
little  bare-foot-ed  boy  in  the  open  field  near  the 
road.  He  was  tending  a  large  flock  of  geese  that 
were  picking  the  short  grass,  and  wading  in  a  shal- 
low  brook. 


133 

The  king  went  toward  the  boy.  He  held  a  gold 
piece  in  his  hand. 

"  My  boy,"  he  said,  "  how  would  you  like  to  have 
this  piece  of  money  ?  " 

"  I  would  like  it,"  said  the  boy ;  "  but  I  never  hope 
to  have  so  much." 

"  You  shall  have  it  if  you  will  run  back  to  the  oak 
tree  at  the  second  turning  of  the  road,  and  fetch  me 
the  book  that  I  left  there." 

The  king  thought  that  the  boy  would  be  pleased. 
But  not  so.  He  turned  away,  and  said,  "  I  am  not 
so  silly  as  you  think." 

"What  do  you  mean.'^"  said  the  king.  "Who 
says  that  you  are  silly  ? " 

"  Well,"  said  the  boy,  "  you  think  that  I  am  silly 
enough  to  believe  that  you  will  give  me  that  gold 
piece  for  running  a  mile,  and  fetch-ing  you  a  book. 
You  can't  catch  me." 

"  But  if  I  give  it  to  you  now,  perhaps  you  will  be- 
lieve me,"  said  the  king;  and  he  put  the  gold  piece 
into  the  little  fellow's  hand. 

The  boy  s  eyes  spar-kled ;  but  he  did  not  move. 

"  What  is  the  m^atter  now  ? "  said  the  king. 
"  Won't  you  go  ?  " 

The  boy  said,  "  I  would  like  to  go ;  but  I  can't 
leave  the  geese.  They  will  stray  away,  and  then  1 
shall  be  blamed  for  it." 


7  -:''. 


'  Crack  the  whip  ^ ' 


I3S 

"  Oh,  I  will  tend  them  while  you  are  away,"  said 
the  king. 

The  boy  laughed.  ''I  should  like  to  see  you 
tending  them!"  he  said.  ''Why,  they  would  run 
away  from  you  in  a  minute." 

"  Only  let  me  try,"  said  the  king. 

At  last  the  boy  gave  the  king  his  whip,  and 
started  off.  He  had  gone  but  a  little  way,  when  he 
turned  and  came  back. 

"  What  is  the  matter  now  ?  "  said  Max-i-mil-ian. 

"  Crack  the  whip  !  " 

The  king  tried  to  do  as  he  was  bidden,  but  he 
could  not  make  a  sound. 

"  I  thought  as  much,"  said  the  boy.  ''  You  don't 
know  how  to  do  anything." 

Then  he  took  the  whip,  and  gave  the  king  lessons 
in  whip  cracking.  "  Now  you  see  how  it  is  done," 
he  said,  as  he  handed  it  back.  "  If  the  geese  try 
to  run  away,  crack  it  loud." 

The  king  laughed.  He  did  his  best  to  learn  his 
lesson ;  and  soon  the  boy  again  started  off  on  his 
errand. 

Maximilian  sat  down  on  a  stone,  and  laughed  at 
the  thought  of  being  a  goose-herd.  But  the  geese 
missed  their  master  at  once.  With  a  great  cac-kling 
and  hissing  they  went,  half  flying,  half  running, 
across  the  meadow. 


136 

The  king  ran  after  them,  but  he  could  not  run 
fast.  He  tried  to  crack  the  whip,  but  it  was  of  no 
use.  The  geese  were  soon  far  away.  What  was 
worse,  they  had  gotten  into  a  garden,  and  were  feed- 
ing on  the  tender  veg-e-ta-bles. 

A  few  minutes  after-ward,  the  goose  boy  came 
back  with  the  book. 

"  Just  as  I  thought,"  he  said.  "  I  have  found  the 
book,  and  you  have  lost  the  geese." 

"  Never  mind,"  said  the  king,  "  I  will  help  you 
get  them  again." 

"  Well,  then,  run  around  that  way,  and  stand 
by  the  brook  while  I  drive  them  out  of  the  gar- 
den." 

The  king  did  as  he  was  told.  The  boy  ran  for- 
ward with  his  whip,  and  after  a  great  deal  of  shout- 
ing and  scolding,  the  geese  were  driven  back  into 
the  meadow. 

"  I  hope  you  will  pardon  me  for  not  being  a  bet- 
ter goose-herd,"  said  Maximilian ;  "  but,  as  I  am  a 
king,  I  am  not  used  to  such  work." 

"  A  king,  indeed ! "  said  the  boy.  "  I  was  very 
silly  to  leave  the  geese  with  you.  But  I  am  not  so 
silly  as  to  believe  that  you  are  a  king." 

**Very  well,"  said  Maximilian,  with  a  smile; 
"here  is  another  gold  piece,  and  now  let  us  be 
friends." 


137 

The  boy  took  the  gold,  and  thanked  the  given 
He  looked  up  into  the  king  s  face  and  said,  — 

*'  You  are  a  very  kind  man,  and  I  think  you 
might  be  a  good  king ;  but  if  you  were  to  try  all 
your  life,  you  would  never  be  a  good  gooseherd." 


THE    INCHCAPE    ROCK. 

In  the  North  Sea  there  is  a  great  rock  called  the 
Inch-cape  Rock.  It  is  twelve  miles  from  any  land, 
and  is  covered  most  of  the  time  with  water. 

Many  boats  and  ships  have  been  wrecked  on  that 
rock ;  for  it  is  so  near  the  top  of  the  water  that  no 
vessel  can  sail  over  it  without  striking  it. 

More  than  a  hundred  years  ago  there  lived  not 
far  away  a  kind-heart-ed  man  who  was  called  the 
Abbot  of  Ab-er-broth-ock. 

"  It  is  a  pity,"  he  said,  "  that  so  many  brave  sail- 
ors should  lose  their  lives  on  that  hidden  rock." 

So  the  abbot  caused  a  buoy  to  be  fastened  to  the 
rock.  The  buoy  floated  back  and  forth  in  the  shal- 
low water.  A  strong  chain  kept  it  from  floating 
away. 

On  the  top  of  the  buoy  the  abbot  placed  a  bell ; 
and  when  the  waves  dashed  against  it,  the  bell 
would  ring  out  loud  and  clear. 


138 

Sailors,  now,  were  no  longer  afraid  to  cross  the 
sea  at  that  place.  When  they  heard  the  bell  ring- 
ing, they  knew  just  where  the  rock  was,  and  they 
steered  their  vessels  around  it. 

"  God  bless  the  good  Abbot  of  Ab-er-broth-ock !  " 
they  all  said. 

One  calm  summer  day,  a  ship  with  a  black  flag 
happened  to  sail  not  far  from  the  Inch-cape  Rock. 
The  ship  belonged  to  a  sea  robber  called  Ralph  the 
Rover;  and  she  was  a  terror  to  all  honest  people  both 
on  sea  and  shore. 

There  was  but  little  wind  that  day,  and  the  sea 
was  as  smooth  as  glass.  The  ship  stood  almost 
still ;  there  was  hardly  a  breath  of  air  to  fill  her  sails. 

Ralph  the  Rover  was  walking  on  the  deck.  He 
looked  out  upon  the  glassy  sea.  He  saw  the  buoy 
floating  above  the  Inchcape  Rock.  It  looked  like 
a  big  black  speck  upon  the  water.  But  the  bell 
was  not  ringing  that  day.  There  were  no  waves  to 
set  it  in  motion. 

"  Boys ! "  cried  Ralph  the  Rover ;  "  put  out  the 
boat,  and  row  me  to  the  Inchcape  Rock.  We  will 
play  a  trick  on  the  old  abbot." 

The  boat  was  low-ered.  Strong  arms  soon  rowed 
it  to  the  Inchcape  Rock.  Then  the  robber,  with  a 
heavy  ax,  broke  the  chain  that  held  the  buoy. 

He  cut  the  fas-ten-ings  of  the  bell.     It  fell  into  the 


139 

water.  There  was  a  gur-gling  sound  as  it  sank  out 
of  sight. 

"  The  next  one  that  comes  this  way  will  not  bless 
the  abbot,"  said  Ralph  the  Rover.    . 

Soon  a  breeze  sprang  up,  and  the  black  ship  sailed 
away.  The  sea  robber  laughed  as  he  looked  back 
and  saw  that  there  was  nothing  to  mark  the  place 
of  the  hidden  rock. 

For  many  days,  Ralph  the  Rover  scoured  the 
seas,  and  many  were  the  ships  that  he  plun-dered. 
At  last  he  chanced  to  sail  back  toward  the  place 
from  which  he  had  started. 

The  wind  had  blown  hard  all  day.  The  waves 
rolled  high.  The  ship  was  moving  swiftly.  But 
in  the  evening  the  wind  died  away,  and  a  thick  fog 
came  on. 

Ralph  the  Rover  walked  the  deck.  He  could 
not  see  where  the  ship  was  going.  "  If  the  fog 
would  only  clear  away !  "  he  said. 

"  I  thought  I  heard  the  roar  of  breakers,"  said 
the  pilot.     "  We  must  be  near  the  shore." 

"  I  cannot  tell,"  said  Ralph  the  Rover ;  "  but  I 
think  we  are  not  far  from  the  Inchcape  Rock.  I 
wish  we  could  hear  the  good  abbot  s  bell." 

The  next  moment  there  was  a  great  crash.  "  It 
is  the  Inchcape  Rock ! "  the  sailors  cried,  as  the 
ship  gave  a  lurch  to  one  side,  and  began  to  sink. 


140 

"  Oh,  what  a  wretch  am  I ! "  cried  Ralph  the 
Rover.  "  This  is  what  comes  of  the  joke  that  I 
played  on  the  good  abbot ! " 

What  was  it  that  he  heard  as  the  waves  rushed 
over  him  ?  Was  it  the  abbot's  bell,  ringing  for  him 
far  down  at  the  bottom  of  the  sea  ? 


WHITTINGTON    AND    HIS   CAT. 

I.     THE    CITY. 

There  was  once  a  little  boy  whose  name  was 
Richard  Whit'ting-ton ;  but  everybody  called  him 
Dick.  His  father  and  mother  had  died  when  he 
was  only  a  babe,  and  the  people  who  had  the  care 
of  him  were  very  poor.  Dick  was  not  old  enough 
to  work,  and  so  he  had  a  hard  time  of  it  indeed. 
Sometimes  he  had  no  break-fast,  and  sometimes  he 
had  no  dinner ;  and  he  was  glad  at  any  time  to  get 
a  crust  of  bread  or  a  drop  of  milk. 

Now,  in  the  town  where  Dick  lived,  the  people 
liked  to  talk  about  London.  None  of  them  had 
ever  been  to  the  great  city,  but  they  seemed  to 
know  all  about  the  wonderful  things  which  were  to 
be  seen  there.  They  said  that  all  the  folks  who 
lived  in  London  were  fine  gen-tle-men  and  ladies ; 
that  there  was   singing   and   music   there   all  day 


141 

long ;  that  nobody  was  ever  hungry  there,  and  no- 
body had  to  work;  and  that  the  streets  were  all 
paved  with  gold. 

Dick  listened  to  these  stories,  and  wished  that  he 
could  go  to  London. 

One  day  a  big  wagon  drawn  by  eight  horses,  all 
with  bells  on  their  heads,  drove  into  the  little  town. 
Dick  saw  the  wagon  standing  by  the  inn,  and  he 
thought  that  it  must  be  going  to  the  fine  city  of 
London. 

When  the  driver  came  out  and  was  ready  to  start, 
the  lad  ran  up  and  asked  him  if  he  might  walk  by 
the  side  of  the  wagon.  The  driver  asked  him 
some  questions ;  and  when  he  learned  how  poor 
Dick  was,  and  that  he  had  neither  father  nor 
mother,  he  told  him  that  he  might  do  as  he  liked. 

It  was  a  long  walk  for  the  little  lad ;  but  by  and 
by  he  came  to  the  city  of  London.  He  was  in  such 
a  hurry  to  see  the  wonderful  sights,  that  he  forgot 
to  thank  the  driver  of  the  wagon.  He  ran  as 
fast  as  he  could,  from  one  street  to  another,  try- 
ing to  find  those  that  were  paved  with  gold.  He 
had  once  seen  a  piece  of  money  that  was  gold,  and 
he  knew  that  it  would  buy  a  great,  great  many 
things ;  and  now  he  thought  that  if  he  could  get 
only  a  little  bit  of  the  pave-ment,  he  would  have 
everything  that  he  wanted. 


142 

Poor  Dick  ran  till  he  was  so  tired  that  he  could 
run  no  farther.  It  was  growing  dark,  and  in  every 
street  there  was  only  dirt  instead  of  gold.  He  sat 
down  in  a  dark  corner,  and  cried  himself  to  sleep. 

When  he  woke  up  the  next  morning,  he  was  very 
hungry ;  but  there  was  not  even  a  crust  of  bread  for 
him  to  eat.  He  forgot  all  about  the  golden  pave- 
ments, and  thought  only  of  food.  He  walked  about 
from  one  street  to  another,  and  at  last  grew  so 
hungry  that  he  began  to  ask  those  whom  he  met 
to  give  him  a  penny  to  buy  something  to  eat. 

"  Go  to  work,  you  idle  fellow,"  said  some  of  them ; 
and  the  rest  passed  him  by  without  even  looking  at 
him. 

"  I  wish  I  could  go  to  work ! "  said  Dick. 

II.     THE    KITCHEN. 

By  and  by  Dick  grew  so  faint  and  tired  that  he 
could  go  no  farther.  He  sat  down  by  the  door  of  a 
fine  house,  and  wished  that  he  was  back  again  in 
the  little  town  where  he  was  born.  The  cook-maid, 
who  was  just  getting  dinner,  saw  him,  and  called 
out, — 

"  What  are  you  doing  there,  you  little  beggar  .f^  If 
you  don't  get  away  quick.  Til  throw  a  panful  of  hot 
dish-water  over  you.     Then  I  guess  you  will  jump." 


H3 

Just  at  that  time  the  master  of  the  house,  whose 
name  was  Mr.  Fitz-war'ren,  came  home  to  dinner. 
When  he  saw  the  ragged  little  fellow  at  his  door, 
he  said, —  .  * 

"  My  lad,  what  are  you  doing  here  ?  I  am  afraid 
you  are  a  lazy  fellow,  and  that  you  want  to  live 
without  work." 

"  No,  indeed! "  said  Dick.  "  I  would  like  to  work,  if 
I  could  find  anything  to  do.  But  I  do  not  know 
anybody  in  this  town,  and  I  have  not  had  anything 
to  eat  for  a  long  time." 

"  Poor  little  fellow! "  said  Mr.  Fitz-war-ren.  "  Come 
in,  and  I  will  see  what  I  can  do  for  you."  And  he 
ordered  the  cook  to  give  the  lad  a  good  dinner,  and 
then  to  find  some  light  work  for  him  to  do. 

Little  Dick  would  have  been  very  happy  in  the 
new  home  which  he  had  thus  found,  if  it  had  not 
been  for  the  cross  cook.     She  would  often  say, — 

"  You  are  my  boy  now,  and  so  you  must  do  as  I 
tell  you.  Look  sharp  there  !  Make  the  fires,  carry 
out  the  ashes,  wash  these  dishes,  sweep  the  floor, 
bring  in  the  wood!  Oh,  what  a  lazy  fellow  you 
are ! "  And  then  she  would  box  his  ears,  or  beat 
him  with  the  broom-stick. 

At  last,  little  Alice,  his  master's  daughter,  saw 
how  he  was  treated,  and  she  told  the  cook  she 
would  be  turned  off  if  she  was  not  kinder  to  the 


144 

lad.  After  that,  Dick  had  an  eas-i-er  time  of  it ;  but 
his  troubles  were  not  over  yet,  by  any  means. 

His  bed  was  in  a  garret  at  the  top  of  the  house, 
far  away  from  the  rooms  where  the  other  people 
slept.  There  were  many  holes  in  the  floor  and 
walls,  and  every  night  a  great  number  of  rats  and 
mice  came  in.  They  tor-ment-ed  Dick  so  much, 
that  he  did  not  know  what  to  do. 

One  day  a  gentleman  gave  him  a  penny  for 
cleaning  his  shoes,  and  he  made  up  his  mind  that 
he  would  buy  a  cat  with  it.  The  very  next  morn- 
ing  he  met  a  girl  who  was  car-ry-ing  a  cat  in 
her  arms. 

"  I  will  give  you  a  penny  for  that  cat,"  he  said. 

"  All  right,"  the  girl  said.  "  You  may  have  her, 
and  you  will  find  that  she  is  a  good  mouser 
too." 

Dick  hid  his  cat  in  the  garret,  and  every  day  he 
carried  a  part  of  his  dinner  to  her.  It  was  not  long 
before  she  had  driven  all  the  rats  and  mice  away; 
and  then  Dick  could  sleep  soundly  every  night. 

III.     THE     VENTURE. 

Some  time  after  that,  a  ship  that  belonged  to 
Mr.  Fitzwarren  was  about  to  start  on  a  voyage 
across  the  sea.     It  was  loaded  with  goods  which 


MS 

were  to  be  sold  in  lands  far  away.  Mr.  Fitzwarren 
wanted  to  give  his  servants  a  chance  for  good 
fortune  too,  and  so  he  called  all  of  them  into  the 
parlor,  and  asked  if  they  had  anything  they  would 
like  to  send  out  in  the  ship  for  trade. 

Every  one  had  something  to  send,  —  every  one 
but  Dick ;  and  as  he  had  neither  money  nor  goods, 
he  staid  in  the  kitchen,  and  did  not  come  in  with 
the  rest.  Little  Alice  guessed  why  he  did  not 
come,  and  so  she  said  to  her  papa, — 

"  Poor  Dick  ought  to  have  a  chance  too.  Here 
is  some  money  out  of  my  own  purse  that  you  may 
put  in  for  him." 

"  No,  no,  my  child !  "  said  Mr.  Fitzwarren.  "  He 
must  risk  something  of  his  own."  And  then  he 
called  very  loud,  ''  Here,  Dick !  What  are  you 
going  to  send  out  on  the  ship  ? " 

Dick  heard  him,  and  came  into  the  room. 

"  I  have  nothing  in  the  world,"  he  said,  "  but 
a  cat  which  I  bought  some  time  ago  for  a 
penny." 

"  Fetch  your  cat,  then,  my  lad,"  said  Mr.  Fitz- 
warren, "  and  let  her  go  out.  Who  knows  but  that 
she  will  bring  you  some  profit. ^^  " 

Dick,  with  tears  in  his  eyes,  carried  poor  puss 
down  to  the  ship,  and  gave  her  to  the  cap- 
tain.     Everybody  laughed   at   his   queer   venture; 

FIFTY  FAM.  STO. —  lO 


146 

but  little  Alice  felt  sorry  for  him,  and   gave  him 
money  to  buy  another  cat. 


After  that,  the  cook  was  worse  than  before.  She 
made  fun  of  him  for  sending  his  cat  to  sea.  "  Do 
you  think,"  she  would  say,  "  that  puss  will  sell  for 
enough  money  to  buy  a  stick  to  beat  you } " 


147 

At  last  Dick  could  not  stand  her  abuse  any  longer, 
and  he  made  up  his  mind  to  go  back  to  his  old 
home  in  the  little  country  town.  So,  very  early  in 
the  morning  on  All-hal-lows  Day,  he  started.  He 
walked  as  far  as  the  place  called  Hol-lo-way,  and 
there  he  sat  down  on  a  stone,  which  to  this  day  is 
called  "Whit-ting-ton's  Stone." 

As  he  sat  there  very  sad,  and  wondering  which 
way  he  should  go,  he  heard  the  bells  on  Bow 
Church,  far  away,  ringing  out  a  merry  chime.  He 
listened.     They  seemed  to  say  to  him, — 

"  Turn  again,  Whittington, 
Thrice  Lord  Mayor  of  London." 

"  Well,  well !  "  he  said  to  himself.  "  I  would  put 
up  with  almost  anything,  to  be  Lord  Mayor  of 
London  when  I  am  a  man,  and  to  ride  in  a  fine 
coach !  I  think  I  will  go  back  and  let  the  old  cook 
cuff  and  scold  as  much  as  she  pleases." 

Dick  did  go  back,  and  he  was  lucky  enough  to 
get  into  the  kitchen,  and  set  about  his  work,  before 
the  cook  came  down-stairs  to  get  break-fast. 

IV.     THE    CAT. 

Mr.  Fitzwarren's  ship  made  a  long  voyage,  and 
at  last  reached  a  strange  land  on  the  other  side  of 
the  sea.     The  people  had  never  seen  any  white  men 


148 

before,  and  they  came  in  great  crowds  to  buy  the 
fine  things  with  which  the  ship  was  loaded.  The 
captain  wanted  very  much  to  trade  with  the  king 
of  the  country ;  and  it  was  not  long  before  the 
king  sent  word  for  him  to  come  to  the  •palace 
and  see  him. 

The  captain  did  so.  He  was  shown  into  a  beauti- 
ful room,  and  given  a  seat  on  a  rich  carpet  all 
flow-ered  with  silver  and  gold.  The  king  and  queen 
were  seated  not  far  away;  and  soon  a  number  of 
dishes  were  brought  in  for  dmner. 

They  had  hardly  begun  to  eat  when  an  army  of 
rats  and  mice  rushed  in,  and  de-voured  all  the  meat 
before  any  one  could  hinder  them.  The  captain 
wondered  at  this,  and  asked  if  it  was  not  very  un- 
pleas-ant  to  have  so  many  rats  and  mice  about. 

"Oh,  yes!"  was  the  answer.  "It  is  indeed  un- 
pleas-ant;  and  the  king  would  give  half  his  treas- 
ure if  he  could  get  rid  of  them." 

The  captain  jumped  for  joy.  He  remembered 
the  cat  which  little  Whittington  had  sent  out ;  and 
he  told  the  king  that  he  had  a  little  creature  on 
board  his  ship  which  would  make  short  work  of  the 
pests. 

Then  it  was  the  king's  turn  to  jump  for  joy ;  and 
he  jumped  so  high,  that  his  yellow  cap,  or  turban, 
dropped  off  his  head. 


149 

"Bring  th(  tiire   to  me,"  he  said.     "If  she 

will  do  what  you  say,  I  will  load  your  ship  with 
gold." 

The  captain  made  believe  that  he  would  be  very 
sorry  to  part  with  the  cat ;  but  at  last  he  went  down 
to  the  ship  to  get  her,  while  the  king  and  queen 
made  haste  to  have  another  dinner  made  ready. 

The  captain,  with  puss  under  his  arm,  reached 
the  palace  just  in  time  to  see  the  table  crowded 
with  rats.  The  cat  leaped  out  upon  them,  and 
oh  !  what  havoc  she  did  make  among  the  trou-ble- 
some  creatures  !  Most  of  them  were  soon  stretched 
dead  upon  the  floor,  while  the  rest  scam-pered  away 
to  their  holes,  and  did  not  dare  to  come  out  again. 

The  king  had  never  been  so  glad  in  his  life ;  and 
the  queen  asked  that  the  creature  which  had  done 
such  wonders  should  be  brought  to  her.  The  cap- 
tain called,  "  Pussy,  pussy,  pussy !  "  and  the  cat  came 
up  and  rubbed  against  his  legs.  He  picked  her  up, 
and  offered  her  to  the  queen;  but  at  first  the  queen 
was  afraid  to  touch  her. 

However,  the  captain  stroked  the  cat,  and  called, 
"  Pussy,  pussy,  pussy ! "  and  then  the  queen  ventured 
to  touch  her.  She  could  only  say,  "  Putty,  putty, 
putty!"  for  she  had  not  learned  to  talk  English. 
The  captain  then  put  the  cat  down  on  the  queen's  lap, 
where  she  purred  and  purred  until  she  went  to  sleep. 


ISO 

The  king  would  not  have  missed  getting  the  cat 
now  for  the  world.  He  at  once  made  a  bargain 
with  the  captain  for  all  the  goods  on  board  the 
ship ;  and  then  he  gave  him  ten  times  as  much  for 
the  cat  as  all  the  rest  came  to. 

The  captain  was  very  glad.  He  bade  the  king 
and  queen  good-by,  and  the  very  next  day  set  sail 
for  England. 

V.     THE   FORTUNE. 

One  morning  Mr.  Fitzwarren  was  sitting  at  his 
desk  in  his  office.  He  heard  some  one  tap  softly  at 
his  door,  and  he  said,  — 

"  Who's  there  ?  " 

"A  friend,"  was  the  answer.  "I  have  come  to 
bring  you  news  of  your  ship  '  U-ni-corn.' " 

Mr.  Fitzwarren  jumped  up  quickly,  and  opened 
the  door.  Whom  should  he  see  waiting  there  but 
the  captain,  with  a  bill  of  lading  in  one  hand  and 
a  box  of  jewels  in  the  other?  He  was  so  full  of 
joy  that  he  lifted  up  his  eyes,  and  thanked  Heaven 
for  sending  him  such  good  fortune. 

The  captain  soon  told  the  story  of  the  cat;  and 
then  he  showed  the  rich  present  which  the  king 
and  queen  had  sent  to  poor  Dick  in  payment  for 
her.  As  soon  as  the  good  gentleman  heard  this, 
he  called  out  to  his  servants,  — 


"  Go  send  him  in,  and  tell  him  of  his  fame ; 
Pray  call  him  Mr.  Whittington  by  name." 

Some  of  the  men  who  stood  by  said  that  so  great 
a  present  ought  not  to  be  given  to  a  mere  boy ;  but 
Mr.  Fitzwarren  frowned  upon  them. 

"  It  is  his  own,"  he  said,  "  and  I  will  not  hold  back 
one  penny  from  him." 

Dick  was  scouring  the  pots  when  word  was 
brought  to  him  that  he  should  go  to  the  office. 

"  Oh,  I  am  so  dirty! ''  he  said,  "  and  my  shoes  are 
full  of  hob-nails."     But  he  was  told  to  make  haste. 

Mr.  Fitzwarren  ordered  a  chair  to  be  set  for  him, 
and  then  the  lad  began  to  think  that  they  were 
making  fun  of  him. 

"  I  beg  that  you  won't  play  tricks  with  a  poor 
boy  like  me,"  he  said.  '*  Please  let  me  go  back  to 
my  work." 

"  Mr.  Whittington,"  said  Mr.  Fitzwarren,  "  this  is 
no  joke  at  all.  The  captain  has  sold  your  cat,  and 
has  brought  you,  in  return  for  her,  more  riches 
than  I  have  in  the  whole  world." 

Then  he  opened  the  box  of  jewels,  and  showed 
Dick  his  treasures. 

The  poor  boy  did  not  know  what  to  do.  He 
begged  his  master  to  take  a  part  of  it;  but  Mr.  Fitz- 
warren said,  "  No,  it  is  all  your  own ;  and  I  feel  sure 
that  you  will  make  good  use  of  it" 


152 

Dick  then  offered  some  of  his  jewels  to  his  mis- 
tress and  little  Alice.  They  thanked  him,  and  told 
him  that  they  felt  great  joy  at  his  good  luck,  but 
wished  him  to  keep  his  riches  for  himself. 


But  he  was  too  kind-heart-ed  to  keep  everything 
for  himself.  He  gave  nice  presents  to  the  cap- 
tain and  the  sailors,  and  to  the  servants  in  Mr.  Fitz- 
warren's  house.  He  even  remembered  the  cross 
old  cook. 


153 

After  that,  Whittington's  face  was  washed,  and 
his  hair  curled,  and  he  was  dressed  in  a  nice  suit 
of  clothes;  and  then  he  was  as  handsome  a  young 
man  as  ever  walked  the  streets  of  London. 

Some  time  after  that,  there  was  a  fine  wedding 
at  the  finest  church  in  London ;  and  Miss  Alice 
became  the  wife  of  Mr.  Richard  Whittington.  And 
the  lord  mayor  was  there,  and  the  great  judges, 
and  the  sher-i£fs,  and  many  rich  mer-chants;  and 
everybody  was  very  happy. 

And  Richard  Whittington  became  a  great  mer- 
chant, and  was  one  of  the  foremost  men  in  London. 
He  was  sheriff  of  the  city,  and  thrice  lord  mayor ; 
and  King  Henry  V.  made  him  a  knight. 

He  built  the  famous  prison  of  New-gate  in 
London.  On  the  arch-way  in  front  of  the  prison 
was  a  figure,  cut  in  stone,  of  Sir  Richard  Whit- 
tington and  his  cat;  and  for  three  hundred  years 
this  figure  was  shown  to  all  who  visited  London. 


CASABIANCA, 

There  was  a  great  battle  at  sea.  One  could 
hear  nothing  but  the  roar  of  the  big  guns.  The 
air  was  filled  with  black  smoke.  The  water  was 
strewn  with    broken   masts  and   pieces    of   timber 


154 

which  the  cannon  balls  had  knocked  from  the 
ships.  Many  men  had  been  killed,  and  many 
more  had  been  wounded. 

The  flag-ship  had  taken  fire.  The  flames  were 
breaking  out  from  below.  The  deck  was  all  ablaze. 
The  men  who  were  left  alive  made  haste  to  launch 
a  small  boat.  They  leaped  into  it,  and  rowed  swiftly 
away.  Any  other  place  was  safer  now  than  on 
board  of  that  burning  ship.  There  was  powder 
in  the  hold. 

But  the  captain's  son,  young  Ca-sa-bi-an'ca,  still 
stood  upon  the  deck.  The  flames  were  almost  all 
around  him  now;  but  he  would  not  stir  from  his 
post.  His  father  had  bidden  him  stand  there,  and 
he  had  been  taught  always  to  obey.  He  trusted  in 
his  father's  word,  and  be-lieved  that  when  the  right 
time  came  he  would  tell  him  to  go. 

He  saw  the  men  leap  into  the  boat.  He  heard 
them  call  to  him  to  come.     He  shook  his  head. 

"  When  father  bids  me,  I  will  go,"  he  said. 

And  now  the  flames  were  leaping  up  the  masts. 
The  sails  were  all  ablaze.  The  fire  blew  hot  upon 
his  cheek.  It  scorched  his  hair.  It  was  before  him, 
behind  him,  all  around  him. 

"  O  father!"  he  cried,  "may  I  not  go  now.^^  The 
men  have  all  left  the  ship.  Is  it  not  time  that  we 
too  should  leave  it  ?'' 


155 

He  did  not  know  that  his  father  was  lying  in  the 
burning  cabin  below,  that  a  cannon  ball  had  struck 
him  dead  at  the  very  be-gin-ning  of  the  fight.  He 
listened  to  hear  his  answer. 

"  Speak  louder,  father !  "  he  cried.  "  I  cannot 
hear  what  you  say." 

Above  the  roaring  of  the  flames,  above  the  crash- 
ing of  the  falling  spars,  above  the  booming  of  the 
guns,  he  fancied  that  his  father  s  voice  came  faintly 
to  him  through  the  scorching  air. 

''I  am  here,  father!  Speak  once  again!"  he 
gasped. 

But  what  is  that  ? 

A  great  flash  of  light  fills  the  air;  clouds  of 
smoke  shoot  quickly  upward  to  the  sky;  and  — 

"  Boom  ! " 

Oh,  what  a  ter-rif-ic  sound !  Louder  than  thun- 
der, louder  than  the  roar  of  all  the  guns !  The 
air  quivers ;  the  sea  itself  trembles ;  the  sky  is 
black. 

The  blazing  ship  is  seen  no  more. 

There  was  powder  in  the  hold ! 

A  long  time  ago  a  lady,  whose  name  was  Mrs. 
Hemans,  wrote  a  poem  about  this  brave  boy  Ca-sa-bi- 
an-ca.  It  is  not  a  very  well  written  poem,  and  yet 
everybody  has  read  it,  and  thousands  of  people  have 


156 

learned  it  by  heart.     I  doubt  not  but  that  some  day 
you  too  will  read  it.     It  begins  in  this  way :  — 

"The  boy  stood  on  the  burning  deck 
Whence  all  but  him  had  fled ; 
The  flame  that  lit  the  battle's  wreck 
Shone  round  him  o'er  the  dead. 

"  Yet  beautiful  and  bright  he  stood, 
As  born  to  rule  the  storm  — 
A  creature  of  heroic  blood, 

A  proud  though  childHke  form." 


ANTONIO   CANOVA. 

A  GOOD  many  years  ago  there  lived  in  Italy  a 
little  boy  whose  name  was  An-to'ni-o  Ca-noVa.  He 
lived  with  his  grand-fa-ther,  for  his  own  father  was 
dead.  His  grand-fa-ther  was  a  stone-cut-ter,  and  he 
was  very  poor. 

An-to-ni-o  was  a  puny  lad,  and  not  strong  enough 
to  work.  He  did  not  care  to  play  with  the  other 
boys  of  the  town.  But  he  liked  to  go  with  his  grand- 
father to  the  stone-yard.  While  the  old  man  was 
busy,  cutting  and  trimming  the  great  blocks  of  stone, 
the  lad  would  play  among  the  chips.  Sometimes 
he  would  make  a  little  statue  of  soft  clay;  some- 
times he  would  take  hammer  and  chisel,  and  try  to 


157 

cut  a  statue  from  a  piece  of  rock.  He  showed  so 
much  skill  that  his  grandfather  was  de-light-ed. 

"  The  boy  will  be  a  sculp-tor  some  day,"  he  said. 

Then  when  they  went  home  in  tlie  evening,  the 
grand-moth-er  would  say,  "  What  have  you  been 
doing  to-day,  my  little  sculp-tor  ?  " 

And  she  would  take  him  upon  her  lap  and  sing 
to  him,  or  tell  him  stories  that  filled  his  mind  with 
pictures  of  wonderful  and  beautiful  things.  And 
the  next  day,  when  he  went  back  to  the  stone-yard, 
he  would  try  to  make  some  of  those  pictures  in 
stone  or  clay. 

There  lived  in  the  same  town  a  rich  man  who  was 
called  the  Count.  Sometimes  the  Count  would 
have  a  grand  dinner,  and  his  rich  friends  from  other 
towns  would  come  to  visit  him.  Then  Antonio's 
grandfather  would  go  up  to  the  Count's  house  to 
help  with  the  work  in  the  kitchen ;  for  he  was  a 
fine  cook  as  well  as  a  good  stone-cut-ter. 

It  happened  one  day  that  Antonio  went  with  his 
grandfather  to  the  Count's  great  house.  Some 
people  from  the  city  were  coming,  and  there  was 
to  be  a  grand  feast.  The  boy  could  not  cook, 
and  he  was  not  old  enough  to  wait  on  the  table ; 
but  he  could  wash  the  pans  and  kettles,  and  as  he 
was  smart  and  quick,  he  could  help  in  many  other 
ways 


158 

All  went  well  until  it  was  time  to  spread  the  table 
for  dinner.  Then  there  was  a  crash  in  the  dining 
room,  and  a.man  rushed  into  the  kitchen  with  some 
pieces  of  marble  in  his  hands.  He  was  pale,  and 
trembling  with  fright. 

''  What  shall  I  do  ?  What  shall  I  do  ?  "  he  cried. 
"  I  have  broken  the  statue  that  was  to  stand  at  the 
center  of  the  table.  I  cannot  make  the  table  look 
pretty  without  the  statue.  What  will  the  Count 
say?" 

And  now  all  the  other  servants  were  in  trouble. 
Was  the  dinner  to  be  a  failure  after  all  ?  For  every- 
thing de-pend-ed  on  having  the  table  nicely  arranged. 
The  Count  would  be  very  angry. 

"  Ah,  what  shall  we  do  ?  "  they  all  asked. 

Then  little  Antonio  Ca-no-va  left  his  pans  and 
kettles,  and  went  up  to  the  man  who  had  caused  the 
trouble. 

"  If  you  had  another  statue,  could  you  arrange 
the  table  ?  "  he  asked. 

"  Cer-tain-ly,"  said  the  man ;  "  that  is,  if  the 
statue  were  of  the  right  length  and  height." 

''  Will  you  let  me  try  to  make  one  ?  "  asked  Anto- 
nio.    "  Perhaps  I  can  make  something  that  will  do." 

The  man  laughed. 

"  Non-sense !  "  he  cried.  "  Who  are  you,  that  you 
talk  of  making  statues  on  an  hour's  notice  ? " 


159 

''  I  am  Antonio  Canova,"  said  the  lad. 

"  Let  the  boy  try  what  he  can  do,"  said  the  serv- 
ants, who  knew  him. 

And  so,  since  nothing  else  could  be  done,  the 
man  allowed  him  to  try. 

On  the  kitchen  table  there  was  a  large  square 
lump  of  yellow  butter.  Two  hundred  pounds  the 
lump  weighed,  and  it  had  just  come  in,  fresh  and 
clean,  from  the  dairy  on  the  mountain.  With  a 
kitchen  knife  in  his  hand,  Antonio  began  to  cut 
and  carve  this  butter.  In  a  few  minutes  he  had 
molded  it  into  the  shape  of  a  crouching  lion ;  and 
all  the  servants  crowded  around  to  see  it. 

"  How  beautiful !  "  they  cried.  "  It  is  a  great 
deal  pret-ti-er  than  the  statue  that  was  broken." 

When  it  was  finished,  the  man  carried  it  to  its 
place. 

"The  table  will  be  hand-som-er  by  half  than  I 
ever  hoped  to  make  it,"  he  said. 

When  the  Count  and  his  friends  came  in  to 
dinner,  the  first  thing  they  saw  was  the  yellow 
lion. 

"  What  a  beautiful  work  of  art ! "  they  cried. 
"  None  but  a  very  great  artist  could  ever  carve 
such  a  figure ;  and  how  odd  that  he  should  choose 
to  make  it  of  butter ! "  And  then  they  asked  the 
Count  to  tell  them  the  name  of  the  artist. 


The  servants  crowded  around  to  see  it.' 


i6i 

"  Truly,  my  friends,"  he  said,  "  this  is  as  much  of 
a  surprise  to  me  as  to  you."  And  then  he  called 
to  his  head  servant,  and  asked  him.  where  he  had 
found  so  wonderful  a  statue. 

"  It  was  carved  only  an  hour  ago  by  a  little  boy 
in  the  kitchen,"  said  the  servant. 

This  made  the  Count's  friends  wonder  still  more; 
and  the  Count  bade  the  servant  call  the  boy  into 
the  room. 

"My  lad,"  he  said,  "you  have  done  a  piece  of 
work  of  which  the  greatest  artists  would  be  proud. 
What  is  your  name,  and  who  is  your  teacher  ? " 

"  My  name  is  Antonio  Canova,"  said  the  boy, 
"  and  I  have  had  no  teacher  but  my  grandfather 
the  stonecutter." 

By  this  time  all  the  guests  had  crowded  around 
Antonio.  There  were  famous  artists  among  them, 
and  they  knew  that  the  lad  was  a  genius.  They 
could  not  say  enough  in  praise  of  his  work ;  and 
when  at  last  they  sat  down  at  the  table,  nothing 
would  please  them  but  that  Antonio  should  have  a 
seat  with  them ;  and  the  dinner  was  made  a  feast 
in  his  honor. 

The  very  next  day  the  Count  sent  for  Antonio 
to  come  and  live  with  him.  The  best  artists  in. 
the  land  were  em-ployed  to  teach  him  the  art  in 
which  he  had  shown  so  much  skill ;  but  now,  instead 

FIFTY   FAM.   STO.  —  1 1 


1 62 


of  carving  butter,  he  chis-eled  marble.  In  a  few 
years,  Antonio  Canova  became  known  as  one  of 
the  greatest  sculptors  in  the  world. 


PICCIOLA. 

Many  years  ago  there  was  a  poor  gentleman  shut 
up  in  one  of  the  great  prisons  of  France.  His 
name  was  Char-ney,  and  he  was  very  sad  and  un- 
hap-py.  He  had  been  put  into  prison  wrong-ful-ly, 
and  it  seemed  to  him  as  though  there  was  no  one 
in  the  world  who  cared  for  him. 

He  could  not  read,  for  there  were  no  books  in 
the  prison.  He  was  not  allowed  to  have  pens  or 
paper,  and  so  he  could  not  write.  The  time 
dragged  slowly  by.  There  was  nothing  that  he 
could  do  to  make  the  days  seem  shorter.  His  only 
pastime  was  walking  back  and  forth  in  the  paved 
prison  yard.  There  was  no  work  to  be  done,  no 
one  to  talk  with. 

One  fine  morning  in  spring,  Char-ney  was  tak- 
ing his  walk  in  the  yard.  He  was  counting  the 
paving  stones,  as  he  had  done  a  thousand  times 
before.  All  at  once  he  stopped.  What  had  made 
that  little  mound  of  earth  between  two  of  the 
stones  ? 


i63 

He  stooped  down  to  see.  A  seed  of  some  kind 
had  fallen  between  the  stones.  It  had  sprouted ; 
and  now  a  tiny  green  leaf  was  pushing  its  way  up 
out  of  the  ground.  Charney  was  about  to  crush 
it  with  his  foot,  when  he  saw  that  there  was  a  kind 
of  soft  coating  over  the  leaf. 

**  Ah  !  "  said  he.  "  This  coating  is  to  keep  it 
safe.  I  must  not  harm  it."  And  he  went  on  with 
his  walk. 

The  next  day  he  almost  stepped  upon  the  plant 
before  he  thought  of  it.  He  stooped  to  look  at  it. 
There  were  two  leaves  now,  and  the  plant  was 
much  stronger  and  greener  than  it  was  the  day 
before.  He  staid  by  it  a  long  time,  looking  at  all 
its  parts. 

Every  morning  after  that,  Charney  went  at  once 
to  his  little  plant.  He  wanted  to  see  if  it  had  been 
chilled  by  the  cold,  or  scorched  by  the  sun.  He 
wanted  to  see  how  much  it  had  grown. 

One  day  as  he  was  looking  from  his  window,  he 
saw  the  jailer  go  across  the  yard.  The  man  brushed 
so  close  to  the  little  plant,  that  it  seemed  as  though 
he  would  crush  it.  Charney  trembled  from  head  to 
foot. 

"  O  my  Pic-cio-la !  "  he  cried. 

When  the  jailer  came  to  bring  his  food,  he 
begged  the  grim  fellow  to  spare  his  little  plant. 


164 

He  expected  that  the  man  would  laugh  at  him; 
but  al-though  a  jailer,  he  had  a  kind  heart. 

"  Do  you  think  that  I  would  hurt  your  little 
plant?"  he  said.  "No,  indeed!  It  would  have 
been  dead  long  ago,  if  I  had  not  seen  that  you 
thought  so  much  of  it." 

"  That  is  very  good  of  you,  indeed,"  said  Char- 
ney.  He  felt  half  ashamed  at  having  thought  the 
jailer  unkind. 

Every  day  he  watched  Pic-cio-la,  as  he  had 
named  the  plant.  Every  day  it  grew  larger  and 
more  beautiful.  But  once  it  was  almost  broken  by 
the  huge  feet  of  the  jailer's  dog.  Charney's^ heart 
sank  within  him. 

"  Picciola  must  have  a  house,"  he  said.  "  I  will 
see  if  I  can  make  one." 

So,  though  the  nights  were  chilly,  he  took,  day 
by  day,  some  part  of  the  firewood  that  was  allowed 
him,  and  with  this  he  built  a  httle  house  around 
the  plant. 

The  plant  had  a  thousand  pretty  ways  which 
he  noticed.  He  saw  how  it  always  bent  a  little 
toward  the  sun;  he  saw  how  the  flowers  folded 
their  petals  before  a  storm. 

He  had  never  thought  of  such  things  before,  and 
yet  he  had  often  seen  whole  gardens  of  flowers  in 
bloom. 


i6s 

One  day,  with  soot  and  water  he  made  some  ink; 
he  spread  out  his  hand-ker-chief  for  paper;  he  used 
a  sharp-ened  stick  for  a  pen  —  and  all  for  what? 
He  felt  that  he  must  write  down  the  doings  of  his 
little  pet.     He  spent  all  his  time  with  the  plant. 

"  See  my  lord  and  my  lady ! ''  the  jailer  would  say 
when  he  saw  them. 

As  the  summer  passed  by,  Picciola  grew  more 
lovely  every  day.  There  were  no  fewer  than  thirty 
blossoms  on  its  stem. 

But  one  sad  morning  it  began  to  droop.  Char- 
ney  did  not  know  what  to  do.  He  gave  it  water, 
but  still  it  drooped.  The  leaves  were  with-er-ing. 
The  stones  of  the  prison  yard  would  not  let  the 
plant  live. 

Charney  knew  that  there  was  but  one  way  to 
save  his  treasure.  Alas !  how  could  he  hope  that 
it  might  be  done }  The  stones  must  be  taken  up 
at  once. 

But  this  was  a  thing  which  the  jailer  dared  not 
do.  The  rules  of  the  prison  were  strict,  and  no 
stone  must  be  moved.  Only  the  highest  officers  in 
the  land  could  have  such  a  thing  done. 

Poor  Charney  could  not  sleep.  Picciola  must  die. 
Already  the  flowers  had  with-ered ;  the  leaves  would 
soon  fall  from  the  stem. 

Then   a   new  thought   came    to    Charney.      He 


i66 

would  ask  the  great  Napoleon,  the  em-per-or  him- 
self, to  save  his  plant. 

It  was  a  hard  thing  for  Charney  to  do,  —  to  ask 
a  favor  of  the  man  whom  he  hated,  the  man  who 
had  shut  him  up  in  this  very  prison.  But  for  the 
sake  of  Picciola  he  would  do  it. 

He  wrote  his  little  story  on  his  hand-ker-chief. 
Then  he  gave  it  into  the  care  of  a  young  girl,  who 
promised  to  carry  it  to  Napoleon.  Ah^  if  the  poor 
plant  would  only  live  a  few  days  longer ! 

What  a  long  journey  that  was  for  the  young  girl! 
What  a  long,  dreary  waiting  it  was  for  Charney  and 
Picciola ! 

But  at  last  news  came  to  the  prison.  The  stones 
were  to  be  taken  up.     Picciola  was  saved ! 

The  em-per-or's  kind  wife  had  heard  the  story 
of  Charney's  care  for  the  plant.  She  saw  the 
handkerchief  on  which  he  had  written  of  its 
pretty  ways. 

"  Surely,"  she  said,  ''  it  can  do  us  no  good  to  keep 
such  a  man  in  prison." 

And  so,  at  last,  Charney  was  set  free.  Of  course 
he  was  no  longer  sad  and  un-lov-ing.  He  saw  how 
God  had  cared  for  him  and  the  little  plant,  and  how 
kind  and  true  are  the  hearts  of  even  rough  men. 
And  he  cher-ished  Picciola  as  a  dear,  loved  friend 
whom  he  could  never  forget. 


16/ 


MIGNON. 


Here  is  the  story  of  Mignon  as  I  remember  hav- 
ing read  it  in  a  famous  old  book. 

A  young  man  named  Wil-helm  was  staying  at  an 
inn  in  the  city.  One  day  as  he  was  going  up-stairs 
he  met  a  Httle  girl  coming  down.  He  would  have 
taken  her  for  a  boy,  if  it  had  not  been  for  the  long 
curls  of  black  hair  wound  about  her  head.  As  she 
ran  by,  he  ^ught  her  in  his  arms  and  asked  her  to 
whom  she  belonged.  He  felt  sure  that  she  must  be 
one  of  the  rope-dan-cers  who  had  just  come  to  the 
inn.  She  gave  him  a  sharp,  dark  look,  slipped  out 
of  his  arms,  and  ran  away  without  speaking.         ,,^ 

The  next  time  he  saw  her,  Wil-helm  spoke  to  her 
again. 

"  Do  not  be  afraid  of  me,  little  one,"  he  said 
kindly.     "  What  is  your  name  ?  " 

"  They  call  me  Mignon,"  said  the  child. 

"  How  old  are  you  ?  "  he  asked. 

"  No  one  has  counted,"  the  child  an-swered. 

Wilhelm  went  on ;  but  he  could  not  help  wonder- 
ing about  the  child,  and  thinking  of  her  dark  eyes 
and  strange  ways. 

One  day  not  long  after  that,  there  was  a  great 
outcry  among  the  crowd  that  was  watching  the 
rope-dan-cers.      Wilhelm   went   down    to    find   out 


i68 

what  was  the  matter.  He  saw  that  the  master  of 
the  dancers  was  beating  Httle  Mignon  with  a  stick. 
He  ran  and  held  the  man  by  the  collar. 

"  Let  the  child  alone  !  "  he  cried.  "  If  you  touch 
her  again,  one  of  us  shall  never  leave  this  spot." 

The  man  tried  to  get  loose;  but  Wilhelm  held 
him  fast.  The  child  crept  away,  and  hid  herself  in 
the  crowd. 

"  Pay  me  what  her  clothes  cost,"  cri^  the  rope- 
dancer  at  last,  "  and  you  may  take  Yi^xjM 

As  soon  as  all  was  quiet,  Wilhelm  went  to  look 
for  Mignon ;  for  she  now  belonged  to  him.  But  he 
could  not  find  her,  and  it  was  not  until  the  rope- 
dancers  had  left  the  town  that  she  came  to  him. 

"  Where  have  you  been  }  "  asked  Wilhelm  in  his 
kindest  tones ;  but  the  child  did  not  speak. 

"  You  are  to  live  with  me  now,  and  you  must  be 
a  good  child,"  he  said. 

"  I  will  try,"  said  Mignon  gently. 

From  that  time  she  tried  to  do  all  that  she  could 
for  Wilhelm  and  his  friends.  She  would  let  no  one 
wait  on  him  but  herself.  She  was  often  seen  going 
to  a  basin  of  water  to  wash  from  her  face  the  paint 
with  which  the  ropedancers  had  red-dened  her 
cheeks:  indeed,  she  nearly  rubbed  off  the  skin  in 
trying  to  wash  away  its  fine  brown  tint,  which  she 
thought  was  some  deep  dye* 


169 

Mignon  grew  more  lovely  every  day.  She  never 
walked  up  and  down  the  stairs,  but  jumped.  She 
would  spring  along  by  the  railing,  and  before  you 
knew  it,  would  be  sitting  quietly  above  on  the 
landing. 

To  each  one  she  would  speak  in  a  different  way. 
To  Wilhelm  it  was  with  her  arms  crossed  upon  her 
breast.  Often  for  a  whole  day  she  would  not  say 
one  word,  and  yet  in  waiting  upon  Wilhelm  she 
never  tired. 

One  night  he  came  home  very  weary  and  sad. 
Mignon  was  waiting  for  him.  She  carried  the  light 
before  him  up-stairs.  She  set  the  light  down  upon 
the  table,  and  in  a  little  while  she  asked  him  if  she 
might  dance. 

"  It  might  ease  your  heart  a  little,"  she  said. 

Wilhelm,  to  please  her,  told  her  that  she  might. 

Then  she  brought  a  little  carpet,  and  spread  it 
upon  the  floor.  At  each  corner  she  placed  a 
candle,  and  on  the  carpet  she  put  a  number  of  eggs. 
She  arranged  the  eggs  in  the  form  of  certain  figures. 
When  this  was  done,  she  called  to  a  man  who  was 
waiting  with  a  violin.  She  tied  a  band  about  her 
eyes,  and  then  the  dancing  began. 

How  lightly,  quickly,  nimbly,  wonderfully,  she 
moved!  She  skipped  so  fast  among  the  eggs,  she 
trod  so  closely  beside  them,  that  you  would  have 


**And  then  the  dancing  began.* 


171 

thought  she  must  crush  them  all.  But  not  one  of 
tham  did  she  touch.  With  all  kinds  of  steps  she 
passed  among  them.  Not  one  of  them  was  moved 
from  its  place. 

Wilhelm  forgot  all  his  cares.  He  watched  every 
motion  of  the  child.  He  almost  forgot  who  and 
where  he  was. 

When  the  dance  was  ended,  Mignon  rolled  the 
eggs  together  with  her  foot  into  a  little  heap.  Not 
one  was  left  behind,  not  one  was  harmed.  Then 
she  took  the  band  from  her  eyes,  and  made  a  little 
bow. 

Wilhelm  thanked  her  for  showing  him  a  dance 
that  was  so  wonderful  and  pretty.  He  praised  her, 
petted  her,  and  hoped  that  she  had  not  tired  her- 
self too  much. 

When  she  had  gone  from  the  room,  the  man 
with  the  violin  told  Wilhelm  of  the  care  she  had 
taken  to  teach  him  the  music  of  the  dance.  He 
told  how  she  had  sung  it  to  him  over  and  over 
again.  He  told  how  she  had  even  wished  to  pay 
him  with  her  own  money  for  learning  to  play  it 
for  her. 

There  was  yet  another  way  in  which  Mignon  tried 
to  please  Wilhelm,  and  make  him  forget  his  cares. 
She  sang  to  him. 

The  song  which  he   liked  best  was  one  whose 


172 

words  he  had  never  heard  before.  Its  music,  too, 
was  strange  to  him,  and  yet  it  pleased  him  very 
much.  He  asked  her  to  speak  the  words  over  and 
over  again.  He  wrote  them  down;  but  the  sweet- 
ness of  the  tune  was  more  dehghtful  than  the 
words.     The  song  began  in  this  way :  — 

"  Do  you  know  the  land  where  citrons,  lemons,  grow, 
And  oranges  under  the  green  leaves  glow?" 

Once,  when  she  had  ended  the  song,  she  said 
again,  "  Do  you  know  the  land  ?  " 

"  It  must  be  Italy,"  said  Wilhelm.  "  Have  you 
ever  been  there  ?  " 

The  child  did  not  answer. 


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General  Library 

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